


Homecoming

by NovaSparks



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anti Hydra-Steve, Bisexual Female Character, Blame Civil War for this, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky has a great ass, Bucky is a little shit, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Eventual Smut, F/M, I suck at Action, Jealous Steve, Kinda Romance, Mutant OC, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky, Search for the Red Book, Shit goes down, Steve is a little shit, Wade is Being an Asshole, Wakanda, X-Men References, how do you tag, jealous T'Challa, so does Steve and T'Challa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 01:02:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7338259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaSparks/pseuds/NovaSparks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fight between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, James Buchanan Barnes decided to let himself be in cryo again, not knowing, that Hydra went on a killing spree to find their precious Winter Soldier and his Red Book again. Steve made it his mission to stop them, while he entrusted Evanna, T'Challa and Ava to keep his best friend safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Under attack

**Author's Note:**

> English is not our main language, so please be kind :)   
> The pov is changing and our writing style, too.

Deep in thoughts, Evanna closed the book she just read and looked over to the container in which Bucky was sleeping.   
Her skin was tingling and she averted her gaze to look over the woods of Wakanda.   
She could feel the electricity rushing through her body.  
Evanna Ross herself could be described as a simple battery. She is able to transmit electricity through her body and into other people with a single touch. 

She let her eyes wander through the room and locked hers with a blond young woman who seemed to be watching her.  
"What is it?", Evanna wondered and put her book into a shelf which was standing across from where she had sat before.   
The young woman shrugged and her brown eyes glowed with oppressed laughter.  
"Well i kinda want to know how many times you have looked longingly towards the sleeping beauty over there.", she answered and Evie rolled her eyes.  
"Well better than someone who is snoring so loudly so i can hear her through walls.", the woman snorted and looked out of the windows, as if she was admitting defeat, but Evie knew her well enough to know, that this little bickering wasn't nearly enough to get her to give in.  
And Evie was right, when she opened her mouth to give a sassy remark, but they were interrupted by footsteps.  
"Evanna, have you seen Ava? She wanted me to let her know, when there are news about this prison underwater, the Raft?", T'Challa, king of Wakanda and also known as Black Panther, made his swift entrance. Even without his Vibranium suit he had so much in common with a cat. 

Ava sighed and brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes, before she walked towards T'Challa and pointed with her thump towards a neighboring room, so they could talk alone.   
Evie watched these two fighters walking alongside towards the door. Unlike her, these two weren't members of the Avengers. Ava just went where she wanted and stayed not to long in one place, mostly because of her abillities. Ava Johnson was, what you could call a mutant. She could create fire and turn into something like smoke. Evanna would never understand, how she did that. But she didn't even understand how she could shock the shit out of people who touched her, as well.   
Evie knew that Ava had killed and hurt many people in her life, but she refused to talk further about her past. Evanna wasn't even innocent herself. She did, what she had to do, to stay alive. That was a side effect to those powers others desired. 

While Evie was walking towards the container in which Bucky was sleeping, she could hear T'Challa's dull voice speaking loudly, but couldn't comprehend what he was saying.   
She knew, that he was putting himself in danger with keeping Bucky, Ava and herself in his kingdom and she was utterly grateful that he did.  
It was almost six months after the fight between Steve and Tony, which ended with Evanna, Wanda, Scott, Sam, Clint and Ava being imprisoned in that underwater jail, which is called the Raft, until they were rescued by Captain America and Black Panther, leading to the current situation.  
Evie assumed, that the government tried everything in their power to march to Wakanda and arrest them all. They were highly wanted criminals now.   
The glass of the container in which Bucky was frozen, felt cold under her palm, while she watched the man inside, hoping secretly that he would open his blue eyes.   
Evie remembered when Steve told her that Hydra started to search for the Red Book which contained all secrets about the Winter Soldier, Bucky's Assassin self and it was most likely that in the near future there would be Hydra agents at Wakanda's doorstep, so Steve decided to look for the Book himself and entrusted Bucky to Evanna, Ava and T'Challa, while Wanda, Clint, Sam and Scott went into hiding.   
During those six months some of T'Challa's scientists succeeded in improving Bucky's metal arm, in case they had to wake him up, but Steve's commands were clear. They could only unfreeze Bucky, if there was no other way to keep him safe. 

Evanna flinched when the door of the room, in which Ava and T'Challa had been talking, burst open. The two had been arguing but Evie had blended their angry voices out, while she was thinking.   
T'Challa grumbled at Ava crossing her arms over her chest, signaling him that she was angry.   
Evanna had always believed that there was something between these two and in situations like this, they seemed like a couple in a marital quarrel.   
"Trouble in Paradise?", even before finishing that sentence, Evie regretted her choice of saying something because the "couple" was now glaring at her. Great!  
She could almost feel her eyebrows getting burned but suddenly a loud alarm sound filled the room and Evanna froze, knowing what that meant.   
T'Challa was already on his phone while Ava made her way to the windows to watch the woods. 

Evanna was filled with panic while T'Challa spoke rushed and angry in his mother tongue with someone on the phone.   
"Let's get going.", said Ava before she grabbed Evanna's arm to drag her into the Armory to get dressed into their fighting gear.   
"Is it Hydra?", Evie asked while she got dressed and armed herself with guns. Because of her special abillities there were metalboards incorporated inside her combat gear to let her electricity flow without exposing to much skin and restricting her movements for close combat.  
"Yes. Be ready. We won't let them get in here, but for James' safety you have to stay here, Evanna. Ava is coming with me. She will be a great help at keeping them out.", said T'Challa, who was just walking in on them in full Black Panther uniform.  
Evie nodded at that und Black Panther and Nova, Ava's codename, left the room in a hurry.   
After she left the armory shortly after them, Evie looked over to the windows which were now blocked with a dark shutter. She quickly made her way towards Bucky's Container and pressed the Code into the key pad beside it before it was moved into the wall and a electric door hid the container from snoopy glances and possible gun shootings.   
After that, Evanna turned the couches over so she could take cover in case some Hydra agents made their way into the room.   
She already knew they were here, the gunshots in the distance were loud and clear. Evanna hoped, that Ava and T'Challa were okay. She had seen them fighting before and was aware, that they made a good team, with Ava burning people and T'Challa keeping them away from her body. The king of Wakanda had once told her that Ava was a noob at close combat because her abillities allowed her to shoot a fireball at someone who was standing at the other end of the room so she never thought it was necessary to train herself in that area until someone named Black Window had kicked her ass. 

Evie looked for cover behind one of the tables and held her hands close together, so that the palms were almost touching. She looked pleased at the sparks which flew between her hands and couldn't wait to see someone wiggle under her electrical touch, especially those Hydra agents.   
Evanna supposed that some of the enemys forces gained access to the building, because she could hear commands being yelled and that close by.  
Her sigh was deep before the burst open, revealing five heavily armed agents and the fingers of her left hand grabbed tightly around her pistol.   
"Secure the entrances and search the room!", commanded the man who was standing in the front of his men and was scanning the room with the visor of his rifle.  
While she waited for the agents to spread out, Evie glanced towards the wall which protected Bucky from becoming a brainless assassin again. 

Evanna was determined to not let that happen ever again, as long as she could hold a gun or shock someone with a single touch.   
Swift like a cat, she slid towards a man, who walked towards her position. Merely a couple of seconds later he fidgeted on the floor. She quickly stomped onto his head so he was out for good. At that moment another agent saw her and began to rise his rifle to aim at her before shooting.   
Without looking, Evanna shot a man who was just sneaking around the corner and ran towards the man who was pointing his gun at her. But before he could kill her, she ducked and kicked him to the ground where Evie stepped on the rifle to hinder him from shooting.   
She hear, that the remaining two men started shooting aiming where they suspected her to be. Evanna just snorted and laid the palm of her hand on the face of the man, who was wiggling beneath her, his terrified eyes searching the area for any kind of help.   
Her face was slightly lit and the electrical power she had used was now tingling her skin. She removed her hand and was pleased to see, that the man had lost consciousness.   
The shooting also died out and the room fell silent. 

"Team Delta needs backup. One of the avengers is here. Codename Sparks. I repeat: Team Delta needs backup! Some fucking avenger is in here. The Winter Soldier must be nearby!", their leader grunted harshly into his mic to inform his teammates about his discovery.   
Evanna gritted her teeth and looked again to the key pad and pleaded that Steve would forgive her if he found out about what she was going to do now. Evie didn't know how many agents were going to wildly shoot every room to pieces, hoping they would find the spot where their precious Winter Soldier was kept.   
It was pure luck that the shooting just now didn't damage anything but Evie wasn't going to test that luck again. She was aware that they would first wait for their backup before the enemy would corner her. They had the doors secured and if Evanna tried to make a run for it, they would definitely kill her first.   
Bucky was her only chance.

Evanna quickly bolted towards the key pad on the wall and typed the combination into the buttons. The metal door opened, as well as the container and Evie looked up towards the man while the icy smoke slowly disappeared.   
She carefully touched his new metal hand and cringed at the cold sensation.   
Bucky didn't flinch or anything, he just stode there, still sleeping.   
Evanna already wanted to see if he was alright but exactly at that moment he opened his eyes and grabbed her hand with his metal one.   
Without moving even an inch, the silence continued.


	2. Vaporized Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky escaped his frosty prison and T'Challa and Ava try to rescue Evie and the Winter Soldier out of the Palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be Ava's and T'Challa's POV and was written by Beyxla. 
> 
> Next will be my turn again :D

“What the fuck, man. There are too many of these motherfuckers in here!” grunted Ava angrily.  
“We need to back down before more of your men die”, At the exact moment, T'Challa killed one of Hydra's men right behind Ava who was trying to sneak up on her and shoot her from behind. 

“No! We have to hold the gates, we can't let them get to him. If they break through, the whole building is lost.”

Black Panther extended his metal claws and left his marks on the chest of one enemy. He killed the next one by ramming his weapons in the stomach of a guy, causing him to throw up blood.

The room was filled with dead bodies. Some of them terribly disfigured by the fatal burns of Novas fire attacks. Only Ava and T'Challa were left, their whole team died, their screams caused Ava to doubt if all of this was necessary simply to rescue some popsicle in a metal tank. 

“It's done, we lost. T'Challa, stop this nonsense, more men are going to die because of us. We have to get out of here. Recall your men, I'm leaving with or without you.”

More enemies were approaching armed with heavy guns and fireproof armour. T'Challa looked at her and even though he was wearing his suit and she wasn't able to see his facial expression, she could sense that he was enraged but also felt guilty for letting his man die like that. He nooded and slowly backed up. Nova shouted at him and moved her hands furiously, creating a massive fire wall in front of the enemy's lines. “Get Sparks and Bucky. We'll meet north of here at the waterfall. Don't worry, I'll keep them busy. Now leave!”

T'Challa ran towards the exit leaving his former men and friends behind as well as Ava, who was still struggling to keep the Hydra agents away from the gate.   
While he was running, he couldn't stop thinking about the men they lost. He had known many of them for several years and even though they didn't get along very well at first, they grew out to be a really good bunch of men. Every single one of them was willing to die for their king. Many of them had family, some of them small children. He knew that it wouldn't be easy to tell them that their dads are never going to come back to them.

T'Challa almost stumbled over a dead body before finally reaching Evie. He stopped immediately when he saw that Bucky left his frosty prison and stood in front of the girl.   
“What the hell? Okay... I don't even care but we have to get out of here, NOW.” He noticed a group of dead people laying on the floor besides Sparks, some of their body parts were angled in a way that wasn't natural. He expected it to be Bucky's work and pushed them towards the door that was their only way out. Fortunately their enemies were distracted by Nova so they could leave without any more hard fights. Only a bunch of men tried to stop them from fleeing but Bucky hadn't forgotten his fighting skills and killed them quickly by snapping their necks with his metal arm. T'Challa was amazed by the brutality Bucky killed his victims.

 

 

Meanwhile:

“Go get some motherfuckers!” Ava laughed when she killed some of Hydra's men that weren't covered in armour. She decided not to show the enemy that she struggled keeping them out of the main building but she knew for a fact that it made no sense fighting them any longer.   
After covering the room in a cloud of thick smoke, she decided to end this. She left the hallway and was on her way when the gas tanks in the cellar came to her mind. She ran down the stairs, hoping that her smoke cloud was still there and no one was following her.   
On her way she saw a bunch of burned bodies that weren't her fault. “Must've been Evie...” She told herself and fell down the stairs because she missed one step. “Fuck.” she grunted and stood up. Her head was hurting and she didn't know whether it was her blood or the enemy's that was dripping down her forehead.

Ava finally reached the cellar and the first thing she saw was a massive gas tank in the middle of the room. She smirked and kicked some of the pipes causing them to leak gas into the room. She had to do it, otherwise Hydra would have found tons of weapons and documents, so she clicked her finger and a small spark lit up that covered the whole cellar and bottom floor in flames. Her smoke form allowed her to leave the building safely without getting blown up by the explosion. Nova decided to run straight in the direction of the waterfall because she knew that her friends would wait for her there.

 

 

While they left the building, they heard a loud noise behind them and when they turned around they saw a huge explosion ripping the bottom floor almost completely apart. T'Challa stood there without moving an inch. He hoped that Ava was still alive and could meet them. He didn't want to loose someone again, not only because she became a friend in the last couple of months, but he developed feelings for her. They argued a lot and no one knew if they were together or not but he knew that he couldn't cope with knowing that she died sacrificing herself. 

“Come on, we have to leave immediately.” Evie told them and they decided to group up with Ava at the waterfall, hoping that she survived the explosion. The young woman saw that T'Challa was worried. He stood a few feet away from Bucky and her and he couldn't stop looking in the direction where Ava was supposed to come from. She decided to talk to him. The massive explosion was still in her mind and she didn't know how to react if Ava died in it. 

“Hey... I know, it's a bad question but are you okay?” Evie didn't dare to look directly at the kings's face but she could see his bad mood from the corner of her eye. He hissed at her in a way she never imagined him to do: “What do you think? I lost many of my best men and maybe Ava, too.” T'Challa moved and was now standing right in front of Evie, staring right into her eyes. She felt frightened but couldn't back away from him. “I should have never accepted to let Bucky stay here. It was too much of a risk and now I have to pay for my fault.” Bucky stood a few meters away, watching the two discussing but he decided not to interrupt them. Evie got angry “Okay, so now it's my fault that you lost your soldiers? You agreed and knew what could happen, so stop bitching around. Nova isn't dead. I mean, she can control fire and vaporize.”

Meanwhile, a small cloud of smoke hovered besides Bucky and quickly formed a woman. He was surprised at first but calmed down when he saw who it was. Ava smiled at him and watched Evie's head getting red and her eyes tearing up. She decided to interrupt the two with a loud whistle.   
“What the fuck guys, why are you screaming like you're 90 years old? No offence, Bucky. Sure, let them know where we are, dumb asses. You haven't even noticed me sneaking up on you as a fucking smoke cloud, have you?” Now Ava was angry. She didn't risk her life to see two idiots giving away their position because they weren't able to talk in a normal tone. 

“We need to get to the airfield and get out of here. I killed many of Hydra's soldiers but there are still a ton of them left who are looking for us and I personally don't want to die today. I know what you want to say but cut it out. We're going. Now.”

After Ava roasted them, they didn't dare to speak a word and left immediately.


	3. Shaking hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four fly towards the meet up spot with Steve and discussed their plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Bucky/Evie fluff and finally our handsome and favourite Captain shows up *v*

Evie couldn't even comprehend how confused Bucky had to be. Right after he got out of cryo he had to kill again. Even if it was, to protect her from these Hydra Agents, it still was killing, something that Bucky actually wanted to leave with the Winter Soldier behind in that trunk, where he had slept.  
Ava had made it to them and blew T'Challa's palace in half while she was at it. And now these two sat in the cockpit and flew T'Challa's airplane, which had been hidden in the forest, to a safe spot, where they wanted to meet up with Steve.   
Bucky sat silently in his seat and seemed to realize what was actually happening. 

 

After he woke up, Evie didn't know if he had recognized her or not, the way he had stared at her. He hasn't said anything, just fixed his gaze upon the last remaining Hydra Agent, before killing them with his metal arm, Evie just had her hand grasped around. They had just stood there in a daze, looking at the famous Winter Soldier, it had made it easier for Bucky to just stalk them and break some of their bones with no facial expression.  
Evanna had been ready to shock him, if he had been the Winter Soldier at that moment. He had just watched her, while she was extending her arm towards him, to grasp his flesh hand, not wasting one glance to the dead soldiers on the ground.   
"Are you James Buchanan Barnes?", Evie had asked him and had felt the softness of his human hand. Bucky had just watched her hand touching his and she had noticed the muscles in his forearm clenching under her touch.  
"Yes.", his voice had been husky because he hadn't used it in quite a while, so Evie had smiled up at him, happy, that he remembered who he was.   
She even had wanted to ask, if he recognized her, but at the exact moment King T'Challa had burst into the room.

 

Evanna looked at Bucky and moved a little closer towards him. She was afraid he was losing himself in the chaos of his head and she wanted to distract him from it.   
She knew, that Ava and T'Challa were busy flying and arguing about Ava's almost death. Evie understood T'Challa for reacting the way he did, but she just couldn't let him insult Bucky or Ava's skills. During the fight between Tony and Steve, Evie had joined Captain America, mainly because she saw Bucky after he rescued Steve from the lake and she saw how confused he was and that he didn't want to hurt anybody, especially not his best friend, Steve Rogers. Evanna had tried to talk to him, but he had just looked at her pleadingly and she knew, that he wanted her to let him go. And so did she. 

Well of course Evie wasn't sure about the Sokovia contract either, but her main motivation had been helping Bucky and Steve.   
Ava had joined them after a huge fight with T'Challa, about only god knows what. Evie had seen her skills firsthand and wouldn't mess with her.   
But even so, they had ended up in the Raft, where Steve had rescued them out of.

"Bucky, we are going to meet up with Steve now okay?", Evie tried to make eye contact, but he kept looking to the ground. After he just said 'Yes' in T'Challa's palace he hadn't spoken anything further. 

The Avenger bit her lip and tried the only thing, that she was sure would catch Bucky's attention. She touched his hand and his eyes were locking with hers. His hair fell onto his forehead and looked tousled, as if someone had been running his fingers through it over and over again. 

"What's wrong? Do you need help with something?", Evie asked, unsure of what to say to a mentally ill person. She had to be careful, not to trigger the Winter Soldier, which was still buried inside Bucky. 

He didn't answer and Evie's shoulders slumped a little, but she didn't give in. 

"Do you want something to drink or eat? I think I saw something in the bags over there.", she pointed with her free hand over her shoulder, not breaking the eye contact with Bucky. His eyes were a deep blue and it reminded her of the ocean. 

He let his gaze wander down her face, over her body, until he looked at their hands.

"Are you afraid? Afraid of me?", his voice was low, almost not audible.

"Why are you asking?", Evie's heart jumped in her chest, while she waited for his reply. 

His fingers wrapped around hers and she had to swollow, not able to handle the emotions which were raging inside her stomach. 

"Because you are shaking.", was his answer and now Evie looked also at their joined hands.

"I'm just...", she sighed and looked away, seperating their hands. 

"You didn't talk and I was... worried, i think. Oh, and Steve's gonna kill me, because of you. So much for my beach holiday.", Evie laughed dryly, trying to ease the tension a little bit, and Bucky's lips twichted slightly, as if he was oppressing a smile. 

"Steve could never kill anyone, even less harm a woman. Or has he become a Hydra Agent, while i slept?", Bucky looked at Evie and she blinked confused, before she answered.

"You're talking about the same Steve, right? The guy who kicks ass since the 40s, a Hydra Agent? That little puppy?", Evanna didn't understand how anyone could even remotly think, that Steven Grant Rogers, was anything near a Hydra Agent. 

"Well, then you don't have to fear anything from him. What about the King and his girlfriend?", Bucky asked and Evie shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know if she has ever been his girl-"

"Stop talking you lovebirds and hold on tight. We are almost there.", Ava's voice sounded from the speaker in the airplane and Evie blushed a deep red, turning her face away from Bucky, so he couldn't see it, and he didn't. 

He didn't even say anything about the fact that he and Evanna were called lovebirds. Evie acted like a fourteen year old girl and she hated herself for that.   
She knew, there couldn't be anything more than companionship or even friendship, but she wanted to help him. She saw how scared he had been and still must be. Bucky was her friend, just like Steve and she wouldn't let Hydra get their hands on him ever again. 

They didn't talk on their way down to the ground and just waited for T'Challa's or Ava's signal, that they landed safely.   
Evanna prepared herself mentally for Steve's outburst, that would definitely be directed towards her. Altough Bucky said, the mighty Captain wouldn't be angry, Evie knew better, that if it was an issue about James Buchanan Barnes, Steve Rogers would get angry.

"You can get off.", T'Challa said over the speakers and shortly after, the door to the cockpit opened, revealing the King and his girlfr-... co-pilot. 

Together they exited the airplane and not far from their landing spot was a little hut, most likely the meet up spot with Captain America.   
Evie ignored the questioning looks Ava gave her and leaded them towards the house. 

After they opened the door, Steve stood up from where he had just sat and came towards the four other fighters.   
Steve wasn't wearing his usual Captain America uniform but rather a casual fighting gear and Evie couldn't make out Steve's famous shield at all.   
Officially Steve and Evie weren't Avengers anymore, so they couldn't make use of the benefits of working for the government. That included Steve's uniform and his shield.   
The Captain set his look on Bucky, who stood just behind Evie. Ava and T'Challa backed down, to give Steve some space, because everyone in the room knew, what was about to happen. Well maybe except for Steve. 

"You let him out?", his voice was calm, and Evie knew she fucked up. 

"Hydra was invading the palace and there was a possibilty that the Agents would damage the Cryo-Tank, so I did the one thing that was right.", the Ex-Avenger defended herself and stood her ground against a man, who had super serum in his vains and was much bigger than her. Steve saw she wouldn't budge and he sighed in defeat, rubbing his neck.

"Evie... I'm sorry, I mean I didn't doubt you or anything. But it was Bucky's wish to be kept in there. It's not my place to be angry at you.", Steve looked over at the Winter Soldier and so did Evanna, but with a little bit more caution than the Captain.   
Bucky's ocean blue eyes stared directly into Steve's and Evie felt his body tense up. 

"She fought for me, I fought for her. We are even.", was his response, as if he was giving a report to his superior. Like they did in the army. 

Neither of the three said anything after that, until Ava moved towards Steve's side and motioned for him to bend down, so she could whisper something in his ear.   
Evie lifted her eyebrows and saw out of the corner of her eye, that T'Challa was standing there like a hissing cat, growling at his prey being near another male and Evanna giggled quietly seeing that. T'Challa and Ava had been the lovebirds all along, not her and Bucky. 

Her attention swifted back to Steve and Ava, almost to late, because on Steve's cheeks was a deep blush and Nova looked towards Bucky and Sparks, as if she wanted to tell her: "My job is done", before she went back to T'Challa who visibly relaxed with her being back at his side.   
Ava was obviously not happy with T'Challa's attitude, and glared silently at him before she crossed her arms before her chest and waited for the Captain to suggest a plan on what to do next. 

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly and watched Bucky and Evie, while he did. 

"We are looking for the Red Book. In this book are the trigger words of the Winter Soldier, means we have to get it at all costs. Hydra is looking for Bucky and the Book. We have to get there first.", he told them and gave Ava and the King a short look.

"Where is 'there'? Do you know where to search?", Evie asked and Steve nodded.

"We have two locations. Sam, Wanda, Scott and Clint found out. We will meet up with them. Then we will form two teams and split up. We are faster that way.", Steve turned around and went over to the table where his implements were scattered across and stuffed everything into a small backpack.  
Evie and Ava exchanged a look and waited for Steve to finish. 

Obviously Hydra was after them and they wouldn't butch, before getting their hands on the Red Book or the Winter Soldier.

Hopefully the Captain knew, what he did.


	4. Seperate ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys meet up with Wanda and Co. and decide to split up in order to find the Red Book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frostbae wrote the chapter and we try to post two chapter a week.  
> We wanted it to be on Sunday and Thursday, but please don't be mad if we forget to post something :D
> 
> Love, Coach

Ava was watching Steve with an intense stare and waited for him to give the signal to leave. The fight in the king's palace gnawed at her and for the first time she felt inferior and unimportant. Even when she lived in Australia a year ago, all on her own only accompanied by some snakes and a ton of spiders, hiding from the world that saw here as a creep, a mutant that does nothing but destroy lifes.

 

Ava Johnson left her parents when she was 17 years old because they started to fear her. At first they tried to controll their emotions after they found out that she had those powers but like every teenager, she hit puberty like a stone wall and started to act up. Her parents tried their best to keep her locked up, being afraid that someone would take their daughter away from them or even worse. But one night, Ava managed to sneak out of her room with only the things she was wearing, a sandwich, a bottle of water and necklace her grandma gave her when she was a little child.

 

After she ran away, her parents tried to get her back by sending the police with dogs and helicopters but their girl somehow managed to go into hiding in a small shed in the Australian outback surrounded. Time was hard for her, especially since she haven't had any idea how to survive on her own but after she learned how to hunt the rabbits that were running around her new home, it got easier. Later she decided to make a living as a mercenary before an organisation named "Shield" found her and offered her a job. Ava agreed even though she never wanted to be a member of the Avengers, she just wanted to live her life and not kill a man every second day.

 

After Hydra took over Shield, she fled never wanting to come back but Steve Rogers found and recruited her and long story short, she ended once again imprisoned not by her parents but the government in the raft where T'Challa and Steve rescued her.

Ava's life has never been easy but she grew so sick of it that she just snorted at Steve, who was trying to explain their next plan.

"What's the matter, Ava? Did I say something wrong?" he asked her with a slight look of confusion on his face. "I'm sorry but I'm hungry, I haven't slept for 24 hours and some fucking Hydra agents tried to kill us. I get it, we have to meet Wanda, Clint, Scott and Sam in order to search for the most important thing in the world, the red book. Can we leave now?" Some wrinkles formed on her forehead while she was speaking and her tone got harsh.

 

T'Challa grabbed her arm and she stiffened immediately. He looked at her and she knew that she had no right speaking to Cap like that, even though he was her friend, no especially because he was her friend. Evie and Bucky stood beside her and didn't dare to speak a word.

Cap interupted the awkward silence and looked Ava direclty in her eyes. "I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean to do that."

 

Ava's body relaxed a bit and she felt the need to apologize. "No, you don't have to be sorry. It was my fault. Today was a bit too much for me. I was afraid... to ..." She stopped mid sentence and looked at the floor, afraid to admit that she felt weak.

 

T'Challa hadn't loosen his grip on Ava until now. He watched her and felt pity for this small person standing besides him. She was not much bigger than 5"4' and he often annoyed her by patting her head which resulted in him being hunted by a massive ball of fire.

Steve gaze was now upon Bucky who made a quick gesture. "Alright, I think we should all leave now and meet the others. There is some food left in the plane and you can all sleep for a bit until we reach Wanda and Co." added T'Challa. He and Steve went the front of the plane, discussing where to find their friends whereabouts.

 

Ava meanwhile sat down in the back grabbing a snack and stuffing it into her mouth. She knew that this wasn't nearly enough to appease her hunger but it was better than nothing. She felt Evie's look resting on her but she didn't want to talk so she just gave her a quick smile and tried to find a more comfortable position to sleep for a bit. It wasn't that easy considering the machine that T'Challa was flying was not a luxury plane but one built for soldiers or paratroopers. After half an hour she finally managed to get some sleep.

 

"Ava, honey. Come over here, were taking a photo for our family album!" her mother told her. She felt like a small child and ran towards her parents with tears in her eyes. After all this time she finally understood that her mum and dad wanted to protect her from the world and its gruesomeness. She hugged her dad and felt his hand on her back. "I missed you honey! Where have you been all the time? " he asked and looked her in the eyes with his usual loving look. "I... I don't know" Ava mumbled and felt a hand on her shoulder. "Ava. Dont leave us again, please!" Her mom cried when something ripped her daughter violently out of her dream.

 

Ava woke up with a terrified look on her face. Her palms were sweaty and only after a few moments she realised that it was all a dream and Evie tried to wake her because they reached their destination. "Sorry to wake you but we reached Rome. Sam, Scott and Wanda are waiting for us near the airport." her friend gave her a worried look when Ava made her way to the door. Evie sighed "I hope she's alright."

 

T'Challa, Bucky and Steve were already waiting for them outside of the plane next to an awfully red family car. Ava smiled. "Well, I see you got the best car in Italy."

"I see your in a better mood now. And sure at least it's not attracting unwanted attention." Steve watched her when she made her way down the stairs of the plane to them. "Thats not the word I would use." She laughed and felt Evies presence next to her.

"Okay, let's get in the car and meet the others. It's a ten minute drive to our meeting spot so let's make sure that they don't have to wait too long for us to arrive." said Steve and opened the door to get on the driver's seat.

 

"SHOTGUN!" Evie screeched whilest running towards the car and Ava grunted. "No way, I'm not sitting in the back with these two but you said shotgun first so I'm fucked. Bucky, I think you should sit in the middle, it's too risky. Someone could see you and after all these "accidents" that's definetly not what we want"

The Winter Soldier inhaled a deep breath and got in the car with Ava to his left and T'Challa on his right.

 

After a bit more than ten minutes they reached a small field next to the street where a black truck was already parked.

"I can't wait to get out of this thing. I think my leg fell asleep. I'm getting too old for this." Bucky snorted.

Ava laughed: "Calm down, grandpa. Don't be so grumpy all the time."

 

Steve was the first to get out of the car and he greeted Clint, Wanda, Scott and Sam with a bear hug. "It's so nice to see you again but I haven't told you everything that you have to know. I was afraid that someone could read the mail I sent you so I left some important parts out of it."

The other four finally got out of the car too and stood beside Steve. "Hydra tried to capture Bucky and killed many of T'Challas men in the process. The most important thing that we have to do is to find the Red Book and destroy it one and for all."

Ava couldn't remember a moment when she saw Steve this obsessed with something.

"There are two locations where they could hide the book. One is near a small town in Russia, the other in Argentina. That's where T'Challa, Ava, Wanda and Clint are going to search for it. Do you have any more questions?"

No one said anything.


	5. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie and Co. try to find the man who knows where to find the Red Book and meet an old friend...

Evie looked up towards the waiter, who just brought her a coffee, and gave him a shy smile which he returned, but with much more confidence. She then watched him leave and she sipped at her cup. 

Her eyes locked with a guy sitting on another table with a magazine spread in front of him.  
"That guy is giving you quite the looks, Eve.", Sam Wilson's voice could be heard over her communicator in her ear.  
"Jealous?", she mocked and grinned at the man she was watching. He smiled back and she let her gaze wander again.  
"Did I miss something over there?", Scott asked, not knowing what was going on. 

Right now, Evanna, Sam, Scott, Steve and Bucky were in Russia, doing research on where to find the Red Book. Evanna and Sam sat outside of a little bakery, watching the streets and waiting for the target to arrive, which was supposed to know more about the whereabouts of the Red Book. 

Scott was wearing his suit and has already infiltrated the building across the street where Evie and Sam sat and where the target was headed.  
Bucky and Steve were postitioned on top of the building so they could overlook everything. If they were down there with Sam and Evie, they would mostly attract to much attention, being Captain America and the Winter Soldier and all. They had been all over media the past few months, so this was safer.

"Everything is alright, but Evie might have an admirer.", Sam said with a playful tone in his voice. Evie heard a grumble over her comunicator, but didn't know whose it had been.

"Are you finished now, Bird-Man?", Bucky's voice sounded harsh and Evie was surprised that he took part in the conversation about a man who was sending her flirtatious smiles.

"Wow, careful grandpa. I was just doing my job.", Sam laughed and Bucky grunted at that.

"Then your job is to analyze which creeps are into Evanna?"

"Hold on, does this mean only creeps are into me, Barnes?", Evie interrupted the guys and was shocked of what she had just heard.  
No one dared to speak now and Evie looked inconspiucously towards the top of the bakery building, where she suspected Bucky and Steve to be. 

"E-everyone calm down okay?", Scott whispered over the com and Evie sighed, before she sipped at her coffee again. 

"I didn't mean it like that...", Bucky's voice sounded apologetically and Sparks grinned at Sam, who was snickering behind his magazine.  
But obviously Steve caught them snickering silently and snorted. 

"Stop bullying Bucky, will you?!", the Captain's voice sounded annoyed.

"But before we stop bullying the Winter Soldier, my job is to observe important things and if no one else is gonna do it, then i have no choice.", Sam said quickly and laughed at Steve's and Bucky's annoyed sigh. 

"Oww, Sam. You're cute.", Evie giggled and emptied her coffee cup.

"Stop flirting while i have this thing in my ear.", Bucky growled and Evanna imagined him looking grumpy towards where Sam and she sat.

"Guys, you might wanna know, that the men are gathering in the yard. Our target most be close by.", Scott informed the others and they stopped playing around at once.  
Evie looked towards the road and saw a black car driving down the street, towards the building oposite of where Sam and Evie sat.

"Keep the plan in mind. No kills. We just want that man.", Steve reminded the others and Evie grittet her teeth. She knew her powers were essential for this mission, because it was her duty to get to the target first and knock him out for good. 

The car with the darkened windows reduced its speed, ready to turn into the yard of the building where Scott was positioned.  
In the next moment a laser came down onto the car and in a matter of seconds, Sam and Evie got up from their seats, but to late. Evanna just saw a blurred man storming towards her, before she was knocked off her feet and something or someone heavy was lying on top of her. 

The explosion that followed ringed in her ears, as well as the screams of the citizens. The pressure wave pressed Sparks and her rescuer against the wall of the now destroyed bakery. 

"Are you guys alright?!", Scott urged into his com, sighing relieved, when Sam grunted approvingly.  
Meanwhile Evie was looking into the face of her savior and saw Steve Rogers smiling down on her. He didn't even seem to notice that almost his entire weight was pressing the air out of her lungs. 

"Steve- ! Air!", Evanna struggled and Steve was heaved off of her and Bucky came to view. Sam helped her to her feet.

"Everyone is okay. Who the hell was that?", Sam said and he looked into the direction where the laserbeam came from. 

"That looked suspciously like Iron Man.", Evie noted, while she removed the dust from her clothing. 

"I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the Avengers are also after the Red Book. Or it's Tony alone. If not we would have encountered Natasha or Vision already.", Steve said, leading them towards the burning car. The sirens could already be heard in the distance.

Evie just saw two man crawling away from the vehicle, blood running down the temple of one of them.  
One of them had to be the target, Michail Kalinin. The one Hydra informant who knew about the whereabouts of the Red Book.  
Their eyes widened when they recognized the two men who were standing in front of Evanna and Sam. The Winter Soldier and Captain America, who were now stalking towards them, Evie was right behind Steve, knowing, that her powers were needed now. 

"Wow wow, Capsicle. What do you think you are doing there?", a familiar voice behind them spoke out and Sam, Evie and Steve whirled around. Tony Stank, eh Stark was standing there in his full Iron Man armor, his right palm directed towards them, ready to shot a laserbeam, if it was necessary.

Evie tried to take a step towards Tony, knowing that she could shut his suit down with her powers, but he just raised his left arm in addition to his right and aimed now directly at her. 

"Stop right there, Missy. I know what you're up to. And you, Barnes, step away from that poor person right there. You're frightening him, can't you see?", Tony looked towards Bucky, who was still fixated on Michail Kalinin who was shaking on the ground, afraid of the famous Winter Soldier.

"What do you want here, Stark?", Sam wanted to know, his brows furrowed and his stance was defensive, but Steve laid his hand on his shoulder to calm him down. The captain obviously believed, that they could settle this argument without violence. But Evie knew, that Tony was still furious at Bucky for what he did while he was brainwashed. Sparks had never seen Tony as hurt as when he looked at Bucky. 

"Step aside, Rogers. The government has already been informed even though i'd like to punch you in the face myself, but even i can't do anything about these stupid politicans.", Tony sighed, as if he was deeply hurt over the fact, that he couldn't punish them himself.

"Scott we need backup. The tin man found us.", Sam growled into the com, to which Scott made surprised sound and informed them, that he was already on his way.

"Evie, get Kalinin and Bucky the out of here. I trust you to look after them.", Steve flashed her a sad smile, before he and Sam blocked Tony's view on Bucky and Evie, by stepping in front of Tony.

Sparks ran towards the other two and shocked the target into unconciousness. She grabbed Bucky's metal arm and ignored him flinching under her touch, before she ordered Bucky to heave that guy over his shoulder, what he did without complaining. 

With a last look towards Steve and Sam, she leaded Bucky into an dark side street, to protect them from curious looks. 

"We will meet you where we planned to. You know what to do if we aren't there on time, Evanna. Promise me.", Steve's voice could be heard over the com and Evie gritted her teeth and looked behind her at Bucky, who looked as distressed as she felt.

"Understood, Captain.", Evie's voice was quiet while she spoke into the com and sighed. 

"Don't you dare not showing up there, Stevie!", Bucky growled and the answer was an exhausted laugh. They must be fighting already, Evie thought, hoping, that no one would get hurt. 

"Look after Eve, til i'm with her again, Grandpa.", Sam's words brought a smile to the woman's face and Bucky snorted, as if he was offended, still carrying that man on his shoulder, as if he was a light as a feather.

"Don't have to tell me twice.", the Winter Soldier answered and Evie gave him a relieved look, knowing that they would look after each other, if things got worse, like in this moment right now.

After that, the two stopped in the shadow of the side street and got rid of their communicators, afraid, that the government might catch their frequency and listen onto their conversations.

"Let's go.", Evie urged the man, but stopped walking, when she saw his brooding face.

"It's alright, Bucky. I have known Steve maybe not as long as you have, but i know, that he always comes home.", Evie touched his hand and Bucky watched her face. Touching his hand has become a way to communicate with him and Evie always asked herself, if she overstepped her bondary, but he never seperated her hands. It has always been her, who had broken that intimate moment between them, afraid something might happen. 

Evie found herself captured by his deep blue eyes and couldn't break away. His fingers intertwined with hers and her skin was tingling, it was as if the air around them was electrical. Evanna knew, that Bucky had been a Womanizer in the 40s and she could now see why, but she doubted that his intentions towards her, were like the ones the Bucky of the 40s had towards a woman.

Evanna pulled her hand from his, after she was startled by their target's little grunt. She turned her back towards him, to hide how flustered she was. 

"Let's go already...", she demanded and began walking, not looking back at him once. 

With her back towards him, she missed him rubbing his neck awkwardly, while a blush spread across his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouhhhh, they met Tony :D  
> I'm sorry if he is kinda OOC, but i'm trying to get the hang of it, also the other character. And i kinda didn't watch Antman, so Scott might be different. I don't know, i only saw him in Civil War so :D  
> We hope you like it so far, and tell us, what you think about the story :)
> 
> Love, Coach & Frostbae


	6. Dance Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T'Challa and Ava go out for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay guys but we were kinda busy.
> 
> We hope you let us know what you think about the story in a review :)
> 
> Have fun reading :)
> 
> Love, Coach & Frostbae

Ava was sitting on her bed in a hotel room in Buenos Aires when suddenly someone knocked on the door. She stood up silently and walked towards it. The hunt with hydra taught her to be careful all the time even when she was on her own. There could be a hydra agent right in front of her closed door, disguised as room service just waiting for her to make a mistake. 

Ava stood on the other side it not making a single sound until she heard a familiar voice calling her. "Ava? Are you there? It's me, T'Challa. I just wanted to ask if you want to go out tonight? I mean, we're flying the day after tomorrow so we still have some time."

Her mood lighted up immediately even though she didn't want to admit it to herself. Without her knowing she turned to her left and looked in the mirror which was hanging on the wall beside her.   
She brushed some hair out of her face and tried not to look like a distressed bird that was chased by a cat. Ava smiled and opened the door, facing him directly and looking T'Challa straight in the eye. "Are you asking me to go on a date with you?"

He avoided her gaze and looked to the floor, one hand brushing to his hair and resting on his neck.   
"Well, if you want to call it that way, then yes." He smiled at her and noticed that her eyes grew wider like a child that's experiencing it's first birthday.   
"Great! So give me one hour and I'll be ready to go." She turned on her heels and closed the door, almost hitting his head with it and knocking him out. T'Challa jumped backwards and watched her a bit annoyed.   
"Oh shit. Sorry! I didn't mean to.. I mean ugh, that's awkward. I do not want to kill you. I'm just a bit excited." she stuttered and made some incomprehensible hand movements while she started blushing and her head was now completely red.

He laughed "It's alright, nothing happened. I'm going to tell Wanda and Clint 'bout our plans. I'll be back in exactly one hour and please calm down. You're face is coloured like the babboon's asses in Wakanda." Ava didn't know how to react - she has never heard something like this from him – so she simply closed the door once again, this time completely and stepped backwards.   
She pressed her cold palms on her burning hot face and shook her head. "I'm not 14 anymore, why the fuck am I acting that way. STOP! We've known each other for some time and there is no reason to be that excited." She almost tripped over a chair while walking backwards and decided to lay down on her bed once again to calm down.

T'Challa made his way to Wanda's room and knocked. The young woman opened and smiled at him.   
"Hey! Is everything alright?" T'Challa knew that Clint loved her accent and her smile because it was so rare the first months after her brother died.

He nodded "Ava and me are going out tonight, just so that you don't have to worry. We want to spend one relaxing evening without worrying."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. She told me this morning that Evie called her to tell her that the Red Book is not here. I guess she already told you that?"

T'Challa nodded once again and opened his mouth to answer but Wanda was quicker. "So have fun tonight. Me and Clint will go to a karaoke bar, you two can join us later, if you want" She smiled.

Ava was laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering wether she and T'Challa would break up after a few weeks – like the last few times - or stay together. They tried to be in a relationship several times but it didn't work out pretty well because either Ava was too ambitious or T'Challa tried to protect her but ended up taking all of her space.

She wanted to hate him, mainly because she couldn't stop thinking about him caught herself staring at him when he wasn't looking.

Ava closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm gonna try it one last time. If it doesn't work out, I ... I ..." she didn't know what to tell herself because she didnt want to think about it.   
"Stop thinking, Ava. Get yourself toghether and move your ass.." She stood up and walked over to the window. She had a magnificent view from it and observed some surfers that were riding the waves. Luckily they found a hotel right at the seaside, so that they could go to the beach whenever they wanted to.

"Ava? Are you ready?" T'Challa was leaning against her door waiting for her reply.

"Give me one second." the young woman walked to her bed once again and put on her shoes, black high heels almost high enough for her to fall and break her neck. She hated them but they looked really good on her. She observed herself in the mirror and nodded contended, then she openend the door and almost punched T'Challa straight in the guts because he was standing right in front of her. He took one step back and smiled. "I see you're ready. You look amazing!"

Ava blushed and took his hand. "Thank you. You don't look bad either."

Toghether they made their way to the taxi. "Where are we going? She wondered. "Wait and you'll see." He opened the door for her and sat beside her.

Both didn't say a word on the ride even though Ava was asking herself why they didn't stop in front of one of those high-end restaurants.

The taxi stopped and she was watching T'Challa suspiciously. He took his briefcase and paid the driver then got up and held the car door for her. She hesitated but stood up and took his hand that helped her out of the car. In front of her was a small house painted with several different colours and blue windows, some tables and chairs standing in front of it and music coming from the inside.

"What are we doing here?" she finally asked but not because she didn't like the place. She could not believe that T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, would have dinner in a place like this.

He grinned. "I thought you'll like it here. I know that you hate restaurants with 5 different forks and spoons and meals that cost 300 dollar." She laughed and pulled him towards a small table right next to one of those blue windows. "Let's sit here! And by the way, I love your choice! It's lovely."

They ordered and an elderly woman brought their food. Ava estimated that she was in her 70s because of the deep creases all over her face, nevertheless she looked so happy and content with her age.

"I hope Cap won't act rashly, now that they know where to find the book." T'Challa had a concerned look on his face. "

"They'll be fine. Evie told me that Tony found them and they had to fight but they're alright. And Bucky is protecting Evie, I mean, look at him he's got that look on his face."

T'Challa almost choked on his food and coughed. "Pardon me. What are you implying?"

"Come on T'Challa, you're not blind. Evie has a huge crush on him. And I can't take offence. He's a handsome guy. We should totally set this up! They're the perfect couple."

T'Challa shook his head in disbelief. "Ava, you're the worst. You won't do anything! They're both adults. No, don't look at me like that. No! Ava. Stop!"

Ava had an evil look on her face. "Oh my god. I ship it. The way Bucky looks at her, like a dragon thats protecting its treasure and he's always watching her when she's not looking. "

"What the hell is 'shipping'?" he asked.

"Ugh. I'll tell you later. You wanna dance?" she smiled and hoped that he would drop the conversation about Bucky and Evie.

"Sure, why not?" he stood up and took her hand. He put his hand on her hip and she grinned. "T'Challa, you know that you always have to have room for Jesus between yourself and your partner?" She laughed. "What are you talking about? We're not in the movie that you and Evie are always watching."

"You mean Dirty Dancing? Well, it looks like it. And I hope you have a gun in your pants or are you happy to see me?"

"No, that's a gun. Ava, please don't make me sweat in front of these people."

They danced silently for another 5 minutes until Ava opened her mouth.

"T'Challa? Do you remember our talk about my ex boyfriend?"

"Sure."

"As you know, we are going to meet Steve and his team in New York and Wade lives there. So there is a small chance that he'll find me. But you know that we're friends?"

"Ava, I don't care. As long as he won't touch you, I'm fine with it."

"I don't think that you'll get along with him so please do not argue with him. You know that he's practically invincible."

T'Challa nodded and stopped dancing. “I think we should go back to the hotel.”

He called a taxi and opened the door for her one more time. They didn't talk and Ava was sick of it. She hated his mood swings and so she took his hand and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." He didn't answer.

She moved to the seat beside him, put her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and hoped that he wasn't angry. He grabbed her hand and kissed her head. After a while he heard a gentle snore and saw that she was sleeping.   
"You can't believe how much I love you, Ava." he tried to be as quiet as possible and carried her out of the taxi into her room. He took off her shoes and placed her on the bed, covering her with the blanket.   
"I'll see you tomorrow" he said quietly and switched the light off, then he went to his room.

The next day went by without anything important and Ava, T'Challa, Wanda and Clint made their way to the airport to meet up with the rest of the group in NY City.


	7. Love Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cap's Team prepares for the mission to obtain the Red Book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hopeyou like the new chapter :)  
> Please let us know your opinion in a comment thanks :)
> 
> Coach & Frostbae

Evie sighed when someone burst into her room. 

"What were you thinking, Evanna Ross?", Steve Rogers was standing in the middle of her little Hotelroom and Bucky right on his heels. The Captain was clearly the one in charge and eyed her with anger and worry in his gaze, but it was Bucky's face that made her shiver out of fear. Bucky was mad and Evie thought he would beat her up any second.  
"Sam told me, that you used a telephone box to call Ava in Argentinia and then while you were out in the street, some government guys tried to attack you.", so Sam had been the one who sold her out to the Captain. 

Now it was Bucky who stepped in front of Steve, who was surprised that Bucky took part in this. 

"Are you out of mind?! Do you know what could have happened to you?! You put us all in great danger!", Bucky growled at her and Evie was shocked that he spoke to her that way. She always thought of Bucky that he'd be the one with whom she had formed a bond over these couple of weeks, but she must have been wrong.

"I am fine and besides, Sam was with me!", she tried to defend herself, but neither Bucky nor Steve backed off. 

"You called Ava behind our backs, Evie. You must have known that the government is looking all over for us. We are criminals in their eyes.", Steve's voice was now softer and Evie refused to look at Bucky so she kept her gaze on her Captain.

"I promised her i would call if something came up. And Tony is a very big something, so excuse me very much for warning my friend!", Evie knew that playing the sulky one would not get her anything with these super soldiers, but she did it anyways.

"You know that even one false step could be the death of all of us. Are you even thinking about what that could mean for us? For me and Steve?", Bucky asked her and his voice was low, dangerously low. 

Before she could yell at him how he could imagine her not thinking about these two, Steve put one hand on his shoulder and Bucky closed his eyes while gritting his teeth. 

"Get out. Now.", Evanna spoke quietly and looked away from him. She saw in the corner of her eye, that Bucky gazed at her again and wanted to step forward, but Steve held him back and ordered him to let him talk to Sparks. 

Bucky reluctantly left the room and Evie was alone with Steve Rogers.

"I have to apologize for him. You know in the army you learn that we only function as a team or as one unit. So there can't be any mistakes, because the consequence might be the death of one of your comrades.", Steve told her, before he sat down on the edge of her bed and tapped on the place beside him, an invitation for her to sit down next to him, which she took.

"And with your phonecall you endangered us all. Bucky might have seemed angry, but he was just worried to death, that you might have gotten hurt. He didn't even let Sam finish explaining and was already on his way to your room.", the two looked at each other and she sighed in defeat.

"Okay, i'm sorry. I didn't mean to do something so dangerous. And i forgive Barnes, but he has to apologize first. But don't tell him. He has to do it without any help from you.", she said and Steve grinned happily at her. 

"Yes, Ma'am.", he did a little playful salute her way and stood up. 

"You already leaving, Steve? We haven't talked with each other since we met in the forest of Wakanda.", Evie grabbed his hand and Steve's smile became more and more soft, before he squeezed her hand and sat down beside her again. 

"Alright. But isn't Sam more suited for these kind of talks, because he's your best friend?", he asked innocently and he tried to keep it cool, but Evie could see that he was a little bit bothered by the fact, that Sam was her best guy friend. 

Evanna couldn't help but giggle at him and Steve immediately blushed at that.  
"W-what is it?", he asked innocently and looked down at their hands in his lap. 

"I just don't believe that such a cute little puppy is one my best friends.", she laughed and nudged him with her elbow. The questionmarks were written all over his face. 

"You know, i don't have one "best friend". You're important to me, just like Sam.", she explained and remembered a similar conversation with her brother, Alec.

"What about Bucky? I never asked you, but while we were trying to save him and ended up fighting with Tony and the others, i noticed that the two of seem to glance each others way pretty often. Especially lately.", Steve smiled at that and she sensed the teasing that would follow if she said something wrong. 

"Actually i don't know what that is between us. I guess he resembles you a bit when you woke up in the 21. century and didn't know anything or anyone. So i just wanted to help him and you for that matter. We saw how that turned out.", Evie shrugged her shoulders and stood up. 

"How about i'll talk with him? You know, ask him if he likes you?", Steve said innocently and Evie blushed furiously, but turned her back towards the super soldier. 

"D-Don't you dare, Rogers. Are you playing matchmaker with us? If so, then you don't have to trouble yourself on that front.", she said flustered and tried to get her heart to calm down. She hoped, that Steve wouldn't do anything on that matter, if he still did, then Evie just had to kill him and then herself after that, so no one would know about that. 

"Well anyway", before Steve could anwser, Evie spoke up, "nice little chat we had. I'll go downstairs and see if i find the other guys. Maybe Scott wants to play some cards or anything.", she rushed out of the room and quickly made her way into the motel lobby. 

Just as predicted Scott, Sam and Bucky were down there. Scott ate a sandwich, while Bucky and Sam glared in opposite direction, they were obviously angry at each other because of Evanna's and Sam's encounter with the government in town. 

When she approached their table, only Bucky and Scott looked up. Sam still pouted. 

"Where's Steve?", Scott asked, after he swallowed and Bucky seemed to be on guard, while watching her as she sat down next to Sam. 

"He'll be down shortly.", Evie responded and snatched the little cookie from Sam's coffee, who protested shortly after that before she send him a little glare and Falcon closed his mouth obediently.

"What did you talk about?", Bucky asked, his voice low. He surely was still angry at her for ordering him out of her room before. 

"I bet he confessed his love for her and they made out.", Sam grinned at the evil glare Scott, Evie and Bucky send him after that.

"Who confessed his love?", Evie wanted to punch Steve in the face for just appearing out of nowhere behind her and scaring the shit out of her, but she calmed down pretty quickly. 

"Oh, Sam said you confessed your love to Evanna.", Scott said and looked confused towards Steve, whose face blushed at that. Bucky and Sam also noticed that. Sam whistled quietly and Bucky growled in his seat, while averting his gaze from his best friend. 

"You're all a bunch of idiots, you know that.", Evie snorted and closed her eyes, as if she didn't want to deal with these children anymore. She wished Ava was here with her, or Natasha. They would let them know where they stood.

"But what about the niece of Peggy you like so much, Steve?", Sam said after nipping at his coffee. Evie crossed her arms infront of her chest, displeased about the new topic, Sharon Carter.

"I'll be honest with you, Stevie. I don't know about this. Bucky told me you kissed her and all, but she's Peggy's niece!", Evie looked skeptical towards her captain, which earned her a scowl. 

"Wait, i thought Steve has the hots for Evanna?", Scott interrupted them confused and everyone sighed. 

"I think we should talk about something else. We still don't have the Red Book and what are we gonna do when we obtained it?", Bucky rubbed his temple with is index finger and looked at Steve. 

"It might be a good idea to find someone who could get that code out of your head, so these commands don't effect you anymore.", the Captain suggested and Evie thought about other possibilities to heal Bucky with instead. 

"What about the X-Men? My brother Alec is with them and Professor X is a strong telepath, maybe he can come up with a solution for our... soldier problem.", Sparks looked at the Winter Soldier and smiled carefully at him, afraid he might not respond to her attempt to make up. His eyes became softer but he didn't smile at her, maybe he was still offended by the way she had treated him earlier.

"You have a brother with the X-Men?", Bucky asked, curiosity flashed over his face and she grinned at herself, while thinking about her baby brother.  
"Before i joined Shield, me and Alec lived some time with the X-Men. You know, trained my powers, so i don't go around and shock people by touching them. When i left for Shield, Alec stayed behind.", Evie explained and Steve laughed at her. 

"You joined Shield, because you waited for me to wake up.", he reminded her and she snorted. 

"You knew each other that long?", Sam exclaimed and stared at them, like that were such great news.

"Well, Steve is a superhuman, so i was curious and Wolverine got on my nerves, so i left the X-Men. I helped Steve to adapt to the 21 century. Some time after the aliens and Loki attacked New York i was invited to join the Avengers. And then Shield was destroyed and i met Bucky and Sam. And that was it for my adventurous past. Any questions so far?", she laughed and looked at the guys. 

Scott reluctantly lifted his hand. Evie rolled her eyes and called his name. 

"That was very interesting, but shouldn't we come up with a plan?", Ant-Man escpically looked at Steve while saying this. 

"Right. Thanks for reminding me, Scott.", Steve said awkwardly and looked at his four comrades. 

"The place where the Red Book is held is some miles north of a city called Surgut. We will meet heavily armed Hydra agents. Scott and Sam will check out the base and then Evie, Bucky and me will infiltrate the building without any solo attempts or reckless attacking, are we clear?", at the last part the captain looked at the only woman in the group, but she kept her gaze down. 

"Evie, it's also important that Bucky is never alone. We don't know how much these Agents know about the Red Book and what it does, but that possibility is still there, so one of us has to stay by his side the whole time. Understood?", Bucky nodded, visibly annoyed that Evie or Steve had to babysit him on this mission, but he understood, that he also might attack his comrades with one tiny mistake, so he kept his mouth shut. 

So did Evie. She had seen what destruction the Winter Soldier could cause and that he was a killer machine, not recognizing any one who dared to get in his way. Evie hearts throbbed painfully at the thought that Bucky wouldn't regonize her anymore if he was like that. She knew that she could never stand the dead look in his eyes. Evie had already seen them once and never wanted to see them again. 

"I'll protect him, Steve. I give you my word."


	8. Arrival in NYC

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava and her team arrive in NY to meet up with the X-Men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small filler chapter to continue Ava and T'Challa's story while Evie and the rest of the group are looking for the Red Book.

Ava sat next to a stranger on the 10 hours flight from Buenos Aires to New York City because she insisted not to travel first class like T'Challa did. She didn't want to attract any unwanted attention that could lead Hydra to them. Most of the time she was listening to music and looking out of the window just to think of the trouble she and her friends are in. Although she liked travelling and improving her fighting skills in combat, she hated running away. Now that Evie told her that had found out where the Red Book was, she felt useless; even though they had a new task, to locate Evie's brother Alec and talk to the rest of the X-Men about their problem with Hydra and Bucky's "habit" to turn into a merciless killer whenever someone read the words written in the book they were looking for. 'Maybe Professor X can help him. He seems pretty trustworthy from what Evie told me.' Ava thought. She fell asleep shortly after and heard a voice several hours later calling: "Folks, we have begun our descent to New York City, and we will be in the gate in about twenty minutes. We'd like the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for arrival and we want to thank you for flying with us today.." She woke up immediatly, yawned and brushed some hair out of her face to tie them in a loose ponytail. Ava stretched her arms out and almost hit her seat neighbor in the face. "Oh gosh. I'm sorry." The guy beside her mumbled something angrily and turned away from her.   
About half an hour later they stood in the airport looking for their bags when T'Challa grinned at Ava and asked her: "How was your flight? Mine was absolutely fantastic and extremely relaxing."   
"Fantastic and relaxing" She copied him snippy and took her suitcase. He laughed and brushed through her hair with one hand, grabbing one of her bags with the other.   
Clint was the last one to get his stuff and looked at T'Challa once he met them in front of the building. "We should rent a car. No, a small bus because someone couldn't decide wether to bring 10 extra pairs of shoes or not." he glanced at Wanda rebukingly. "Those aren't shoes, that's important material for our quest. Don't judge a book by it's cover, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I need a new pair of shoes everyday, even though shoes are great."   
Ava laughed and hadn't noticed until now that T'Challa was gone. She looked around and noticed a car driving in their direction, big enough for their bags and stuff. It stopped in front of them and T'Challa turned down the window. "While you were discussing, I got a car. Get in we have to meet Professor Xavier."   
"SHOTGUN!" Ava yelled after putting her bags in the back of the car. "Holy shit T'Challa, that's a nice car. How much does it cost per day?"   
"Don't worry, honey." he answered "I'm paying for it"   
"Okay, but do not call me 'honey' ever again. Otherwise I'm gonna have to kick your ass."   
"Like you always do?"   
"Damn right!"  
"You should kiss my ass and not kick it, Ava." he laughed.   
Clint sat in the back, rolling his eyes. "Get a room, you two. We all know that you can not be seperated for longer than 24 hours."   
Wanda kicked him and gave him a killing look. "Keep yourself out of this, Clint."   
"Fine, mom." He grunted and continued looking out of the window.   
They didn't talk much on the drive to the X-Men's home but even though T'Challa was driving, he noticed that Ava couldn't sit still and that the skin on her neck had several red spots, a sign that she was anxious about something. He didn't want to ask her what's wrong because he knew it. She was afraid that they could meet her ex-boyfriend and that T'Challa and Wade would hate each other.   
Even though Ava and Wade boke up more than a year ago, they were still friends and had a strong bond because they were really similar in many ways.   
They reached their destination five minutes later and stopped in front of a huge gate that was decorated with the X-Men sign. After T'Challa talked to someone through a box right beside the gate it opened and they parked near the house. Clint and Wanda grabbed their stuff and almost sprinted to the door. T'Challa wanted to follow them as soon as possible but stopped after he saw Ava hesitating. She stood at the back of the car, a bag in each hand her backpack hanging over her shoulder. He walked back to her and tried to take one of her bags but she wouldn't let him get it. "Hey... What's the matter?" he asked but she avoided eye contact. "Nothing."   
"Yeah, nothing right. Then why aren't you moving? You know Wade, he won't be with the X-Men. And if he's here, we are not gonna kill each other, I promise." He saw her grip loosen a bit and tried to grab one of her bags again, this time successfully. Ava looked at him and smiled slightly. "You promise? Even though he's a dick?" "I promise."   
She grinned, showing her teeth and kissed him on his cheek. "Thank you."   
Together they walked towards the big wooden entrance. "May I ask you a question, Ava?"   
"Sure, go for it." "Why are you still friends with Wade? I mean, he's your ex? Usually people hate each other after breaking up."   
"I dont know. We broke up because we didn't have romantic feelings for each other anymore but we're still like ... platonic friends. He showed me how to fight and defend myself after I came to the United States. I didn't know what to do with my powers when I lived in Australia. My day consisted of burning the hell out of backpacks from tourists who sprayed their garbage all around the outback." she laughed shyly and looked to the ground. "I mean, I don't have feelings for him but if we meet you have to know that anything thats sounds sexual is just a joke."   
T'Challa looked at her from the side and saw that her face was now completely red so he avoided commenting and making her more uncomfortable.   
The front door was already opened because of Clint and Wanda and they were greeted by a smiling Alec standing in the main hall.   
Ava noticed that he had the same look on his face like Evie had. They both looked like a confused puppy most of the time. The last time they met, Alec had a huge crush on her, always stuttering and turning completely red when Ava tried to talk to him. She actually thought that he was pretty cute but he was like a brother to her and she knew that they were totally different.   
Alec had a smile on his face that was almost brighter than the sun and he immediatly walked towards Ava when he saw her. "Ava! I didn't know that you would be coming but I'm so happy that you're here! How long is it since we last met?"   
"Almost a year, I think!" He hugged her and she noticed that he even hugged like his sister.   
"Where's Evie? I thought she would be coming with you and your friends?!" he added, watching over Ava's shoulder staring to the door.   
"Evie's not with us but she will be here soon. Calm down, she's fine. She's calling me everyday."   
"Okay. I trust you, but you didn't introduce me to your friends." Alec smiled.   
"Oh yeah, sorry. That's Wanda, Clint and T'Challa."  
"T'Challa? OH like the king of Wakanda?"   
"He's the king of Wakanda, Alec." Ava laughed and crossed her arms in front of her body.   
"OOOOH. I'm sorry." Alec fell to his knees, taking an awkward position right in front of T'Challa who laughed. "It's alright kid. I'm just an ordinary guy." Alec was now looking at him and grinned. "If you say so."   
"And please stop kneeling. I'm feeling like an idiot." T'Challa added.   
"Did you introduce me too?" Ava heard a familiar voice calling out to her. 'Oh no.' she thought and turned around just to look directly in the eyes of an old friend.


	9. Too Slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and his team try to obtain the Red Book to save Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Thanks for reading our story this far!  
> Feel free to comment or give kudos! Both is much appreciated :)
> 
> See ya soon,   
> Coach & Frostbae

Annoyed that her ponytail was sloping, Evanna clicked her tongue and brushed her hair once a again with her finger.

In the corner of her eye she saw James Buchanan Barnes striding towards her in his full combat gear and reminded her once again, that he was the deadly Winter Soldier, able to kill someone without even trying. He always had to be careful of his actions, Evie guessed. 

Right now, the group was some miles away from the Hydra base, which contained the Red Book and prepared for their attack. Evie and Bucky had been paired up, and she caught herself being happy at the thought of being able to protect and stay near him. Evanna just finished making her ponytail, when Bucky stopped in front of her. 

"The others are getting ready. 15 minutes left until we start, doll.", he explained, while gazing at Steve, Sam and Scott. 

"So, i am your 'doll' now, Barnes?", Evie grinned at that and was relieved, that their argument was taken care of and they could speak normally with each other again. 

"I wasn't angry, when you called me 'Bucky Bear'. Sam is still teasing me because of that.", he looked down at her and crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. 

"And i'm still sorry about that. You know i'm just kidding about that 'doll' name. I guess that's how you called every girl back in your day.", Evie sighed and avoided to look him in the eye, cursing herself for appearing this annoyed about such a small matter. 

"Back then it was normal. But now, i don't call women that. I'm not that James Barnes anymore. You should know that.", Evie was more than surprised when Bucky touched her hand with his metal one, but flinched away at her small gasp she let out after she felt the cold against her warm skin. 

"No... i mean i'm sorry. I didn't mean to...", too flustered to continue Bucky stopped, Evie just grabbed his metal hand again and stroked the back of his hand, not sure if he could feel that. 

His blue eyes found her green ones and held them captive. Evie's heart beat like crazy and she tried to calm it, but Bucky's metal hand gripping tightly onto hers like she was his last hope made her fail every attempt. 

Evanna even caught herself taking one step forward, so her body almost touched Bucky's. His deep blue eyes became darker and Sparks only told herself that she was seeing things and bit her lip, while her gaze travelled down to his inviting mouth. 

She wished he would just bend down and kiss her, forget about the mission, the Red Book and the other guys. 

The air around them wasn't enough for Evie and she felt hot all over. She just needed him so much. She wanted to tackle him and kiss him here for everyone to see. She felt her skin tingling of excitement at that thought. 

Evie held her breath when she saw, that Bucky started to bend down, a whistle caused them to quickly seperate and glare at the one startling them.

"Should we leave you here alone for another two minutes so you can finish whatever you were about to do?", Sam grinned at them and Bucky send him a death glare, while Evie blushed furiously and tried to hide it with her hands. 

Without saying something, Bucky watched Evanna who turned away and walked away towards where Steve stood and left Bucky to deal with a smug Sam. 

"Scott already went ahead of us.", he said handing her a little ear communicator. 

"What just happened between you and Bucky? Did he apologize? And you're red, do you have a fever?", Steve didn't seem to get, that Evie almost ravaged Bucky in this forest in front of her teammates. 

"We made up, so it's nothing. And i'm just a little bit nervous because of the mission. By the way, i think we can start.", Evie said looking over her shoulder and witnessing Sam take off into the air, while Bucky walked towards them and came to an halt next to Sparks.

"Alright guys. Let's do this. And don't forget. This is a stealth mission not a killing one.", the Captain told them, handed Bucky his communicator before running off into the woods. 

Evie also started to go but the Winter Soldier caught her wrist and she looked back at him, flustered but also surprised he stopped her.

"Evanna, listen. I'm sorr-", but Evie stopped him with touching his forearm and shaking her head. 

"Let's talk about this, when we have the Red Book and are safe and sound in New York, okay?", she suggested and Bucky nodded in agreement, before smiling at each other like idiots, still too flustered about what had happened before. 

After that, both of them went into the woods and Evie tried not to be distracted by Bucky who walked right beside her, scanning the trees for enemies. 

"I'm in position.", Steve said over the communicator and Bucky made a sign for her to bend down a little, so they wouldn't be seen and could take cover more quickly.

"Roger that. Evie and me can see the back entrance, but it's guarded by two men.", the Winter Soldier said quietly, while he and Evie crouched down and waited for Cap's instructions.

"Can you handle them Sam?", shortly after Steve's question, Sam nosedived and crashed into one guard, but failed to knock the other one out. 

Before Sparks could say something the Winter Soldier left his hiding spot and stormed towards the other guard.  
Evanna wanted to shout at Bucky, but also had to leave her hiding spot to follow after him.   
The poor guard didn't even know what happened to him. He saw Bucky out of the corner of his eye, wanted to raise his gun, but with one hard punch of his metal arm, the hydra agent collided with the wall and collapsed unconscious on the ground.  
Sam just rolled his eyes before taking off into the sky again.   
In the meantime, Evie laid her bare hands on the iron door and opened it with her electrical power, also shutting down the power in the entire building. 

"Power is out, Cap. We'll go in.", Evie said and opened the door for the Winter Soldier. 

Sparks was a little bit angry at Bucky for just rushing into a dangerous situation head on, but she bit her tongue not to say anything, after she heard people yelling commands to get the power back on. 

Evanna knew that her electrical shocks would be needed if they wanted to be stealthy because Bucky's way of knocking someone out might be a little bit to loud and suspicous, but he wouldn't listen to her anyway. 

She gave him the signal and sprinted down a long hallway, before pressing their body against the wall and peering around the corner.   
After Evie made sure, no one was there she made her way into a big room, everything dark except rays of light from torches. 

Evanna quickly counted six men and held her fingers out for Bucky to see. He nodded and signaled her that he would handle three and she the other ones. Sparks nodded and they split up.

She quietly closed in on her first victim and rubbed her hands together and the sparks illuminated her face. The guard noticed that, but before he could shout or shoot at her, she tackled him.

He faceplanted still concious with her holding him down. If just strength had been involved the hydra agent surely would have won but she didn't give him a chance to proof it and laid both her hands on both his temples. He immediately blacked out. 

Bucky must have already taken out two, Evie mused, after hearing grunts over her communicator and grinned. 

Fortunately she had her hair in a ponytail otherwise it would stick out to all sides and take her sight. 

Evanna made sure the man beneath her wouldn't wake up so fast and sneaked up to the next Agent who even noticed that was wrong because of the missing movement of the flashlights.

"Всё в порядке?", Evie didn't speak Russian and hoped he wouldn't come over, but he did after receiving no answer.

She sighed and alerted the Agent of her presence, causing him to raise his gun in her direction. Before he could shoot her, Evie disarmed him with a well-directed kick and he stumbled backwards. 

Sparks knew this Agent wouldn't give up after that and threw a punch at her which she avoided pretty easily. 

It came to a short hand combat between those before Evie bend down and kicked him off his feet. She didn't waist time and shocked him into unconsciousness.

Her last enemy had already spotted her and fumbled for his gun. He seemed nervous and unexperienced. This one might be a new guy, Evie guessed and already pitied him for what she was about to do to him.

She sent him an apologetic look before he was out for good. 

Bucky already waited at the other side of the room and gazed at her as if he searched for wounds on her body. 

"So slow.", he mumbled and Evie punched his shoulder playfully at which he chuckled quietly.

"One of the Agents was so handsome, i couldn't help myself and ogle him.", she shrugged and grinned at Bucky. The smile fell from his face and he looked serious, before his mouth twitched as if he tried to surpress a laughter. 

"Next time i'll show you something to ogle to your hearts content.", Evie flushed bright red and turned her head to hide her face from a grinning Bucky. 

Did he really mean it? Was it okay to believe in his words and not get freaked out over the fact, that James Barnes made a flirtatious joke! Evie didn't know what to do or say, afraid that she might make a fool out of herself, what she definitly already did and just stood there and waited for her blush to pass. 

And then it hit her when someone coughed over the communicator. 

"When are you two going to get married?", Sam asked and Evanna was hit with a wave of embarrassment. 

"Bucky, i didn't know you had it still in you.", Steve said approvingly and Bucky rolled his eyes while growling. 

"Shut up, punk.", he just said and signaled Evie to follow him. Captain Rogers chuckled quietly in her ear. 

They just walked the corridors some minutes in silence without encountering enemys.

"Something about the Book, Cap?", Evie asked and watched Bucky's backside, but averted her gaze, when he turned around. He obviously caught her checking him out and grinned. 

"Meet up in the yard. I found the Book.", Steve said and his voice was low and serious. Evie gulped and looked at Bucky. His face was stiff and his jaw tensed. His eyes gave off the hate he felt for that book and its inventors. 

They quickly made their way outside and were greeted with a sight of a couple of unconscious Hydra Agents lying around, in the middle their Captain.   
Evie's gaze landed on the Red leather Book in his hands while they walked towards him. 

"It's over right? We have the Book.", Evie was relieved and saw in the corner of her eyes Scott and Sam had also met up with them. 

Steve looked at Bucky and lay his hand on his shoulder. The two best friends smiled at each other, evenly relieved as Evie was. 

"Let's go back home and heal Bucky.", Steve looked at his companions and smiled. 

Soon the Winter Soldier would be a memory of Bucky's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Всё в порядке means Everything all right?
> 
> -> sorry if it's wrong, i did it with an online translator :D


	10. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava and Co. wait with Alec for Steve's team to arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> If you like the story, please leave a kudo or comment, that'd be great :)
> 
> Now have fun reading!
> 
> Love   
> Coach & Frostbae

"Wade?" Ava laughed nervously, quickly looking at T'Challa and back to Deadpool, "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to join the X-Men?! What changed your mind?"

Wade walked towards her, fully dressed in his red suit, stopped in front of her and put his hand on her neck before pulling her into a bear hug.

Ava could feel his heart rate going faster than usual so she decided that he was more than happy to meet her once again. She was a bit shocked by his action and hesitated to hug him back at first but decided to hug him anyway. After a moment she pushed him softly away from her and crossed her arms in front of her small body. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here, Wade?"

"Well, honey. You know, it's kinda lonely just sitting in my huge villa all by myself, so I thought it would be nice to help those losers a bit." He glanced over Ava's shoulder and observed Alec's reaction, who was just standing next to T'Challa and shook his head. His gaze wandered to T'Challa and Wade tilted his head to one side. "Honey? Who's that? He's cute. Where'd you find him?"

"Ugh, Wade. He's ... my friend. My boyfriend, actually"

He walked straight to T'Challa and examined him from head to his toes, just to walk in a circle around him and pinch him in his ass.

T'Challa hissed like a cat and turned around, facing Wade. He grabbed him by the throat and pushed him back towards a pillar. "Don't you dare touch me again." T'Challa's voice was dangerously quiet and his grip was interrupted by Ava shouting. "Stop it you two. You're like infants." Wade continued looking at T'Challa, his hands in the air as he wanted to say "Calm down."

T'Challa took one step backwards and crossed his arms, still looking at Wade who laughed. "Gosh, Honey. He must be fun in bed. I swear that he purrs when... you know." He was now standing next to a red headed Alec who was trying not collapse because of the awkward situation they were in.

Ava grunted and looked at Wade first, then to T'Challa. "Can we discuss this later? You both are really fucking annoying. And by the way, Steve and his team will reach New York the next few days, so you two have to get along with each other, or I swear to god I'm gonna kick your ass." Ava's neck showed small red spots. T'Challa only saw them on her when she was either really angry or extremely nervous. Alec broke the painfully uncomfortable situation and scratched his head. "I guess I'll show you your rooms now?!"

Ava nodded and followed him. "Hey, Alec? I was just wondering if I could get a seperate room? T'Challa is still my boyfriend but he can be sooo ugh.... annoying."

Alec laughed out loud and showed her the room prepared for her. "Sure! There it is, I hope you like it. It's been a long time since we had guests over."

"I know it's a dumb question but where are Professor X and the other X-Men? Are you on your own?"

"Nah, Wade is here and he can be pretty damn irritating sometimes, but he's better than nothing. And the other X-Men are on a mission. They should be back soon. I stayed here to train and keep an eye on the house."

"Training? I always thought that your skills were incredible. Why do you need training?"

"Controlling matter is one thing but Charles wants me to be able to control people," he saw Ava's suspicious look on her face and added, "but only to defend myself. I can slow down bullets and even stop them but it would come in handy if I could even stop someone from firing a gun at me or my friends." He sighed quietly when he saw that Ava was relieved. She smiled and brushed with her hand through his hair. "I always knew that you couldn't hurt someone badly or even kill them. Please don't change, Alec. I always envied you because of your power. Mine exists just to hurt and kill... When we were younger you wanted to be like me because you thought that my fire power 'looks so cool', that's what you used to call it all the time." she laughed and seated herself on the bed. "But I can't protect my loved ones from getting shot in the back." Alec noticed the sad look on her face and that she tried to avoided his look. She smiled nervously. "Anyway. Can we cook something later? I'm really hungry." Alec nodded, took a seat beside her and hugged Ava once again. "I'm so happy to see you again. It's gonna be perfect when Evie's here. The whole team assembled." Right when he said that, the sound of Ava's phone ringing could be heard, which startled her and she almost jumped up to grab it. Alec stood up, too and wanted to leave the room until Ava stopped him. "It's Evie. Wait."

Alec stood beside the door and waited for Ava to finish the call. He saw her smiling and sighed relieved. Ava hung up and looked at Evie's little brother. "They're gonna be here the next day. She doesn't want us to meet them at the airport because of Hydra." Ava walked towards Alec when she felt her stomach growling inside of her. "I think we should definitely grab something to eat right now." "Yeah, I think so, too!"

Except for the dinner, Ava successfully avoided T'Challa and Wade. She didn't want to pick a side with any of them so she decided to not pick at all. Even if that meant that T'Challa wouldn't speak with her for the next couple of days. That was a risk she was willing to take.

After the meal she sneaked upstairs to have some time for herself and jumped on the bed, pushing her head in the pillow and screaming silently. "Gosh, I'm gonna get crazy if I have to spend more time with those two downstairs." Ava couldn't fall asleep for a long time, thinking about the mission they were on and the thing with Wade and her boyfriend. Even when she finally managed to sleep she dreamt about them, so she ended up rolling around in her bed.

The next morning was relatively quiet in comparison to yesterday. Neither T'Challa nor Wade dared to speak up and threaten Ava's nerves once again.

She was sitting on the counter, eating a bagel when the door bell rang.

Alec was the first to move and ran towards the front door. He was so excited that he tripped over the carped and face planted right in front of the door. Ava laughed and opened it, Alec still resting on the floor. Evie grinned at Ava, but it suddendly stopped when she saw her little brother on the floor in front of her. She laughed and kneeled down to help Alec get up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." he brushed some dirt from his shirt and hugged her tightly. "Nice to see you, sis."

Finally T'Challa, Wade, Wanda and Clint walked out of the kitchen to join them. Evie looked at Ava when she saw Wade as if she wanted to ask her what he's doing here. Ava shrugged and walked towards her to hug her too. "So, you got the Book?" Evie nodded whilst looking at Bucky.

"Professor X and his team are on a mission but they should be back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I hope that's not a big deal." Ava added and wondered why Evie suddenly grabbed her phone and tossed it towards Alec, who stopped it mid air. "What are you doing, sis?"

"Just testing if you didn't get rusty. I didn't leave you with the X-Men to do nothing. And I see you worked on your reflexes." Evie nodded and looked like a proud mother.

"Anyway, Alec, how's your training with Charles going?"

"It's getting better but it's really hard. I don't want to hurt anyone and I'm not ready to test my skills on a living person." Evie nodded and followed Alec into the living room where they talked for almost two hours straight.

In the meantime, Bucky, Steve, T'Challa and Ava stood together in the kitchen, discussing what the should do next. "We have to wait 'till Professor X returns, and so we have to stay here for the next days. We can't risk that Hydra kidnaps Bucky." Steve told the group and watched Bucky nod approvingly. They were interuppted by Wade who 'bought' some pizzas whilst the group was making plans. "Honey, I'm home!"

Ava shook her head and put her hand on T'Challa's shoulder. "Let's grab some food. We can't risk dying because of an empty stomach."


	11. Partner in Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie and Bucky talk about their relationship, or at least try to :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be kind and leave us a comment or kudos :)
> 
> Thanks guys!!!

"Tell me everything that happened!", Ava demanded and plopped down next to Evanna on the coach in the living room of the X-Men mansion.  
"Well, we infiltrated a hydra base, beat up some people and got the Red Book.", she replied and Ava groaned. 

"Not that. I'm talking about you and Bucky. And don't try to fool me. I know that there is... something. Bucky and Steve are out for their morning run, so they won't hear in on us.", she said and wiggled her eyebrows at her friend who sighed. 

"Now that you mention it, Sam stayed behind because they're always running ahead of him.", Evie giggled but Ava just looked at her expectantly as if she knew that Evie had tried to change the subject.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you. Bucky and I had some moments but we agreed to talk about it when we're in New York again. And now we are in New York... well shit.", Evanna replied nervously and looked towards the door, hoping that Bucky and Steve would still be out some time. 

"Oahh, i knew it! T'Challa didn't believe me, but i knew it! Are you going for a date later?", Ava wanted to know and moved closer to Evie, more excited than her. 

Evie on the other hand felt sick. She just now realized that she sooner or later had to talk with Bucky about that thing between them. What was it anyway?   
Bucky hadn't made any advances towards her since they'd been in New York and Evie was a nervous wreck. Maybe he wasn't interested anymore...?

She remembered when Wade Wilson alias Deadpool had tried to flirt with him, but Steve had quickly stepped in to protect his best friend. Were Captain America and the Winter Soldier really just friends or was there something more?   
Evie wouldn't blame any of them, thinking about Bucky's muscular figure and broad shoulders. Surely even Steven Grant Rogers couldn't resist that. 

"I asked you something. But you're obviously thinking about Bucky's butt with that look on your face.", Ava interrupted and smirked mischievously at her.   
Before Evie could reply, their heads jerked up after hearing that the front door was being opened and two familiar men walked into the living room. 

Ashamed Evie averted her gaze from Steve and Bucky because of her previous thoughts on these two. Ava on the other hand grinned and greated them rather happily, obviously because of what Evanna had told her. 

"Evie look here. It's Bucky with Steve. They're back and sweaty because of their morning run.", Ava bumped her friend with her elbow and Evanna shot her a warning glare, before looking up at the super soldiers. And Ava hadn't been lying. They were sweating, a lot, and they still managed to look absolutely gorgeous.

"Ava's right. Shower first. You coming, Bucks?", at Steve's question, Evie imagined Steve and Bucky under the same shower, but quickly shaked her head to chase these thoughts away. 

Before leaving the room, Bucky watched her and she smiled wryly at him. His face became serious and Evie could even make out the hardening of his jaw.   
"Evanna, i would like to talk to you later. How about we go for a walk and eat something after that, together i mean.", Bucky's eyes shifted away from her, bracing himself for a possible rejection. 

"Then see you after your shower.", Evie blushed and his face lit up with a smile, before he vanished out of the door, leaving Evie with a grinning Ava behind.   
"Oh so bold.", she whistled and Evanna grabbed her wrist, sending a shock through her friend. 

"Stop man. What the fuck?!", Nova jerked her hand away and rubbed her wrist, where she had been shocked.   
"Don't mock him. He was cute.", Evie defended the Winter Soldier and stood up. 

"You gonna help me pick out an outfit?", she asked further and Ava nodded happily, walking to Sparks' room alongside her. 

 

Later that day

Evie waited at the front door and looked at Alec who stood beside her. Obviously Ava had told him that she was going on a 'date' and wanted to meet the 'boyfriend'.   
Evanna was nervous as it was, but her little brother didn't make it better. 

"You already saw him yesterday when we came back.", she tried to get him to leave. 

"That is something else. This isn't like when i met T'Challa and Ava introduced him as her girlfriend. You're my sister and that guy is the Winter Soldier. He could kill everyone if he wanted to.", Evie growled at his suspicion and crossed her arms in front of her chest. 

"Wolverine could also kill everyone if he wanted to. Also Steve, Wade, Ava... even you if you would grab a knife. So don't be such an annyoing little brother. I can manage him just fine.", she tried to reassure him and was relieved when she heard him mubble an apology. 

"Sorry i'm late.", at Bucky's voice the Ross siblings turned their heads and looked at the Winter Soldier who walked towards them, stopping next to Evie. 

"Here, you wanted to meet him, Alec. This is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky, that's my annyoing brother Alec.", she introduced and purposely told her brother Bucky's rank in hope he would be awed, and that he was. 

"N-Nice to meet you, Sir.", Evie giggled while her brother tumbled over his words and saluted in front of the Winter Soldier but quickly changed his mind and hold out his hand which Bucky shook. 

His face was serious and Evie saw the little shake in the corner of his mouth, signaling her that he could hardly keep himself together. 

"Likewise. You may be dismissed now, Soldier.", the Winter Soldier told him and Alec's mouth hung open watching Bucky.

"Are you deaf?", Evie tried to keep it together while the Winter Soldier scared her brother who stumbled an apology before fleeing out of the room.   
"He deserved that.", Sparks grinned at him but his face was still a serious mask. 

"I just assumed you needed assistence, Miss Ross.", now a smirk appeared on his face and she laughed while opening the door to the X-Men Mansion. 

"So i'm your damsel in distress now? A great honor.", she still smiled and Bucky walked next to her. His clothing was slightly darker as to not to distract unnecessary attention and he wore a baseball cap, while Evie wore also something more casual. Ava told her that this was only a 'Confession date' so she advised her not to wear anything too fancy. 

"You're more a partner in crime to be honest.", he told her and grinned at her surprised face. Now Evie felt ashamed for being this nervous about her 'date' with Bucky. Yeah she fancied him and at the end of this day, he would know about her feelings. 

After walking around the streets of New York and watching the busy streets, they came over a little street market and Evie grinned the whole time, while Bucky baught himself a dozen of plums, confused why she was this happy about that. 

After they reached the end of the street market, Bucky had already eaten all of his plums, Evie had only received one and wasn't as fast as Bucky regarding the devouring of this sweet fruit. She had just laughed and Bucky suggested finding a place to eat, while rubbing his neck awkwardly. 

They quickly found something with a nice view towards the streets and sat next to a great window. 

"So what do you wanna eat?", Evie looked at the five different Burger this restaurant offered and decided on the one with cheese and tomatoes.   
Bucky then ordered for the both of them and looked at her. 

"So i've got to ask you now or i will never.", he sighed and looked away from her. 

"Steve gave me some tips, but he's not the best guy when it comes to women you know.", he babbled nervously and ran his fingers through his hair.   
"I know enough women who are enchanted by your best friend. He's a very nice guy.", she grinned thinking about her capable Captain but sadly rather clumsy around women.   
"I can imagine. The Avengers have many fans i guess.", he said and Evie just sighed. 

"Unfortunately the Avengers broke apart after we fought against Tony.", Bucky grimaced at her memory of the past.   
"But that wasn't your fault. This whole thing was mostly about the Sokovia Contract. And i joined Steve and you because i wanted to fight for you, with you.", she said, while touching his hand which lay on top of the table.

He looked at their joined hands as if he was remembering something. 

"Remember that time, when my arm was trapped by this machine and you were there with Steve and Sam and you tended to my wounds? You told me about your powers and how you were sometimes afraid to use them, that you and I aren't so different, just that my power was exploited by evil guys.", his fingers interlaced with hers and she smiled at him.   
"And now you fight for the good guys and use your power to protect people.", Evie was proud of him. She had seen him when he had attacked Fury and Steve and had helped looking for him with the Captain. Then she'd met him again, scared and confused. Now he was sitting across from her and her fingers intertwined with his.   
Before he could answer her, the waitress placed their food in front of them. 

They quickly exchanged glances and started to eat, agreeing that they could later talk about this. But after the food was brought and it was getting darker outside, Bucky got more and more anxious. 

He even paid right after they'd finished eating. Bucky left the restaurant in a haste and grabbed her wrist to guide her through the night. 

Evie was confused but she refused to let this night end like this. She swore to herself (and Ava) that she would definitely confess to Bucky tonight. So she tugged at his arm and he came to an halt, turning around to face her. 

"Evie listen. Right now it's not a go-", he couldn't finish speaking because she interrupted him boldly.

"I've got to say it now or i'll never say it.", she took a deep breath and Bucky watched the shadows as if they were being followed, but she didn't let herself be distracted. 

"I like you, James. Very much to be honest. And i want to spend more time with you. We can make it work, if you're worried about your condition, but we won't know until we try. So what do you say?", she looked at him, after his head jerked in her direction. She saw that almost a smile spread across his face and she already wanted to be relieved, but he sighed and shook his head. 

"Evie, look. This is not a good time. I might have confused you with my actions and i'm sorry. I don't have the same feelings like you do.", he answered serious and Evie blinked at him, not realizing what he had just said. 

"You just played with me? Is that it?", her voice began to waver and she gritted her teeth. She couldn't remember the last time she cried, but right now it didn't matter.   
The tears spilled over and she glared at him. Her fondness of him turned into hate in a matter of seconds. 

His face contorted in horror at what he had just said and wanted to apologize, but she didn't give a chance to do so. 

She wipped away some of her tears and turned around to walk away from him. Quiet sobs were the only thing in Bucky's ears. 

"Evie, wait!", he grabbed onto her wrist with his metal arm, but she sent such an powerful electric shock through his arm, that it shut down completely. That was her moment to flee, but before she did so, Evie looked at him with sorrowful eyes, still wet from all the spilled tears.

Bucky watched her while she ran away from him and he gulped nervously at what he had just caused. She would hate him. Evanna would hate him again. Like she did when he was the Winter Soldier. 

His expression hardened after he heard, that someone walked towards him. He had already seen them while eating in the restaurant. Evie and him had been watched the whole day by Hydra Agents. And that was the exact reason why he had make a decision after he'd heard her confession. To get them to leave her be, he pretented to be the 1940 Bucky and rejected her, hoping he'd find a chance to explain himself later. 

But now he had to fight a dozen of Hydra Agents alone and Evanna hated him. 

He knew that at least three guns were aimed at his head and his metal arm was out, thanks to Evie's electrical shock. He didn't stand a chance.

So he just closed his eyes before someone shocked him into unconsciousness.


	12. Mission Failed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie returned to the X-Men Mansion without Bucky.  
> Steve decides to look for him.  
>  Will they find him and manage to bring him back?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey :)   
> Sorry for posting late but I was sick the whole week and I didn't have the energy to write something. 
> 
> But anyway, feel free to leave kudos and a comment :)
> 
> \- Frostbae & Coach

"How was your date? And where's Bucky?" Ava was watching TV while Evie stomped through the living room like a mammoth. "Hey. Calm down, what happened Sparklypants?" Ava knew that something was wrong just by the look on Evie's face. The young woman sat down next to Ava but refused to look directly at her. "You know... It started out so well but... he's a dick. After we had dinner I told him about my feelings for him and he was like: Nah, I don't feel like you. Let's just be friends. And I was like, What the fuck man. And I left him." Evie almost hyperventilated and her head began to glow like a red light. "And the worst part, I felt like a complete idiot because I started crying and now he probably thinks that I'm a baby." 

Even now she couldn't hold the tears back and started crying, holding her head between her hands. "I can't believe that I did that. I'm such an idiot."   
Ava started to become angry. "No, you're not. Everyone felt the connection between you two. He doesn't deserve you if you ask me." She brushed a tear away from Evie's face and smiled. "It's okay Sparkles. There are plenty of people out there that would love to get to know you. Bucky is a dick head – don't tell Steve that I said that." Evie laughed and hugged Ava. "Thank you."   
"You're welcome. That's what friends are for. Ugh but where IS he? You told me that you left him but where?" 

Evie brushed some hair out of her face and tried to stay calm. She remembered that Bucky was a highly skilled soldier trained in weapons and hand to hand combat but there was almost an army of hydra agents searching for him. "Shit. I hope he's alright."   
"He probably is, Evie. He's a grown man. He can look out for himself and if he's not back in an hour, we'll look for him. And by the way, he still has his mobile phone – we can locate him through the gps signal." Ava took Evie's hand, trying to change her thoughts. "You should try to sleep a bit. You had a stressfull day – not like me, I was watching movies all day. I'm gonna watch out and see if he comes back. Please don't worry and calm down." 

Evie nodded slowly and opened her mouth but decided not to make Ava uncomfortable but her friend quickly realised that something was wrong and looked at her wondering. "What's wrong? You wanted to ask me something?"   
Evie nodded again and finally asked her when she managed to form the question in her head so that it wouldn't sound too weird. "Uhm can I sleep on the couch when you are here? I don't want to be alone in my room." Ava smiled. "Sure. Make yourself comfortable. I'm gonna get you a blanket. I'll be right back."   
She walked upstairs and grabbed a woolen blanked out of her closet and stopped in the kitchen to make tea for Evie. When she reached the living room, she saw Evie already sleeping on the couch and smiled. "Guess it was a hard day for you." She covered her with the blanket and put the mug next to Evie on the table. 

Afterwards Ava sat down facing Evie and wondered what would have happened if Bucky told her that he liked her. The thought of them being a cute couple warmed her heart and she fell asleep shortly after.   
Evie got woken up by two rather rough hands shaking her. She opened her eyes and saw Steve lingering over her looking like a startled deer. "Where's Bucky?"   
She turned her head to the side and saw Ava facepalming and heard her grunting angrily. "Steve, gentle as always." 

Evie pushed him away and got up, crossing her arms in front of her small body. "What the fuck did I do wrong Steve?" It was early in the morning, the sun was already rising. It was probably not later than 7.   
Steve walked one step backwards and gestured towards the door. "I don't want to repeat myself but where the fuck is Bucky?"   
At that moment T'Challa came out of the kitchen and simply added "Language." before walking straight towards the bathroom door. Wade and Alec had finally made it out of the bed and joined the rest of the group in the living room. 

Wade gave Ava an asking look before sitting down on the couch, waiting for Evie to open up about Bucky.   
"Steve, I didn't do anything. We went out to have dinner and we talked and he was a dick and I left him there."   
"You did what?! You LEFT him? Are you out of your mind? It's most likely that he got captured by Hydra." Steve turned around walking towards a window before letting out a deep breath.   
In the meantime Evie went to Ava who grabbed her arm signaling her to keep calm.   
"Steve;" Ava started talking "Bucky still has a GPS signal in his phone and if I remember correctly, T'Challa installed one in his metal arm." T'Challa nodded and Steve turned around to watch Evie's reaction. He was now a bit calmer and Evie's angry look softened.   
"Alright. We leave now. And we won't come back without Bucky." Steve clenched his fists and stormed out of the room.   
Ava put her hand on Evie's shoulder. "Come on, we're getting ready now and we are going to find him, I promise." 

Half an hour later Steve, T'Challa, Evie and Ava were on their way to the place where Evie left him.   
"His signal comes from this building. " T'Challa pointed at a four-storey building across the street.   
Evie nodded and added "Yeah. That's where I left him." She walked towards it and started sprinting when she saw a crushed phone on the floor. Ava followed and kneeled down to examine the former mobile phone. "Wait a minute. Why the fuck is it still sending a signal? It's crushed in pieces?!" T'Challa put his mask over his head before looking in the air. "The signal doesn't come from the phone..."

Before finishing his sentence something heavy landed right in front of them on a parked car. Bucky stood up and aimed his grenade launcher directly at them before pulling the trigger. Steve and T'Challa managed to protect them by pushing Evie and Ava out of the way at the last second. "We have to seperate. Nova, get on the roof and protect Sparks while we try to catch him. He's out of his mind. They turned him back to the Winter Soldier." Steve immediately turned into Captain America and coordinated his team.

"We are making sure that he stays on the street so that we can see him." Ava ran into the building, pushing away some people that were eager to watch what was happening outside. She almost screamed and couldn't control her anger because of their stupidity. "Stay away from the windows and keep your head down. Use the back door and make sure that you don't run into the guy with the metal arm. Now move the fuck out of my way." She ran upstairs placing herself on the flat roof and firing some smoke clouds at Bucky that should stop him from running towards Evie who was still standing at the entrance of the building like frozen, watching the man she fell in love with now trying to kill her first. Bucky coughed and took a grenade from his belt to throw it in Ava's direction. She successfully dodged it and threw a ball of fire at Bucky.

T'Challa saw his chance and launched towards Bucky grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him to the floor. He pushed out his claws and ripped Bucky's mask off, revealing a slight grin on his face that distracted Black Panther and the Winter Soldier grabbed him by the neck and threw him into one of the building's window. "No!" Ava cried and jumped down the fire ladder to help her friend when the Winter soldier pulled out his gun and shot her in the leg which caused her to fall and hit her head on a metal handrail.

Steve grunted and screamed. "Bucky. That's not you. Stop it. We are your friends, we don't want to hurt you." But it was too late. Hydra had managed to capture him and brainwash him into thinking he's the Winter Soldier. He forgot the woman standing behind him for a moment and ran towards Steve who was shielding his face with his fists. The Winter Soldier threw some punches at him before catching him of guard and knocking him out. Only possible because Steve didn't want to hurt his friend and not paying attention because Ava was laying on the last platform of the fire ladder and blood was running all over her head and face. Bucky grinned and pulled a large knife out to finish his job but before he could kneel down to kill his former best friend he felt a shock wave through his body that paralyzed his metal arm.

Sparks successfully sneaked up on the Winter Soldier and grabbed his neck, concentrating on her power and shocked him as hard as she could, leaving him unconcious. She ran to Steve and checked his pulse to see if he's still alive. Sparks let out a relieved breath and turned around when she saw the Winter Soldier not laying near Steve anymore. "Where the fuck is he?" She asked herself and stood up just to feel a strong hand around her neck. It wasn't as cold as metal so she combined that his metal arm was still not working. Before she could even react, he threw her against a stone wall and slowly walked towards her, aiming at her. Evie felt the warm blood running across her face and she forced herself to look at him. "Bucky. No." 

He came closer and stopped right in front of her before saying "You are not my target." The last thing Evie felt was her head hitting the cold stone wall once again when Bucky's gun knocked her out and everything went black.


	13. Broken Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie wakes up after the fight with the Winter Soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> Updates will come weekly because of school and work -.-  
> But here we are :)  
> Appreciate it if you would leave a review or some kudos :)
> 
> Love   
> Coach & Frostbae

Evie's buzzing head and her painfully throbbing temple woke her up. 

She blinked a few times, before her eyes were used to the penetrative lights. 

"... Professor! She woke up.", a female voice sounded through the room and shortly after that was a person beside her and helped her up. Evie just saw the red waves of hair and guessed that the female voice belonged to Jean Grey.

"Evanna, how are you?", she asked and Evie saw in the corner of her eye that Charles Xavier was right behind Jean in his wheelchair.

"W-what happened?", she asked, hissed as the pain got stronger after she had leaned against the backrest. 

"We came back from our mission and Alec told us that you were out looking for the Winter Soldier. You didn't come back so I send Logan and Scott to look for you.", Charles said and Evie send a grateful smile his way. 

"We know already what happened. Captain America told us. He's such a nice guy and he sat the whole time next to you. He was really worried. Black Panther is looking after Nova. She was shot and had to rest, but she'll be alright.", Jean explained and Evie sighed. 

"That whole thing is actually my fault. I left him there for Hydra to take.", Professor X touched her arm, letting her know that they were there with her.  
Suddenly the door to Evie's room opened revealing a stressed looking Steve, Alec, Sam and Logan. 

"Guess it's time to let the boys have their turn. We'll talk later, Evie.", Charles said, before leaving the room with Jean, leaving her with the guys. 

"Thank God, you woke up.", Alec let out a relieved sigh and jumped onto her bed, snuggling up to her side. Evie grinned and tousled through his hair, happy that he showed his affection towards her this public. 

"If popsicle was here right now, i would punch his pretty teeth out.", Sam said, earning a glare from Steve who moved next to her, taking her hand. 

"You gave us a serious scare. You were out for four days and Ava was already awake, although she was more hurt than you. T'Challa is guarding her like a mother watches over her cub.", Captain America chuckled, but he couldn't foul Evie. 

The dark circles under his eyes were proof of his constant worrying about her and obviously his best friend the Winter Soldier.

"I told you guys that Evanna wouldn't be killed just like that.", Logan alias Wolverine stood behind Sam, looking as broad and big as always, wearing a proud grin. 

"You thought i would die from this little punch Bucky threw at me? Ava was shot for gods sake!", Evie laughed, relieved that Ava was already feeling better.

"Steve was crying the whole time. You serious that the Winter Soldier is your boyfriend and not Captain America?", Alec asked, earning a glare from Sam and Logan. Evie just sighed thinking about her 'boyfriend' and Steve grabbed her hand, letting her know, that he also thought about his best friend. 

"Alec, how about you show Falcon the trainingsroom and I'll throw some punches in your face for being so inconsiderate, ok?", Logan grunted and Alec looked shocked at Evie and Steve, realizing what he had done, but left the room with Sam and Wolverine.

"You know that i don't make you responsible for this whole thing.", Steve started and she smiled sadly at him. 

"But it is my fault. I left him there. I even shocked him, so his metal arm was useless. They easily overpowered him.", she refused to let her tears fall and gritted her teeth.  
Steve seemed to remember something and looked out of the window. 

"The Red Book is still with us by the way. Nobody took it. But Bucky is still in his Soldier-Mode. That means that Hydra has more copies of the Red Book.", he sighed and looked at Evie again, who was stunned over this new information. 

"So our only chance is to remove the Code in Buckys head, so the words in the Red Book don't have any effect on him at all?", she concluded and Steve nodded. 

"I already talked with Professor X and he said that he would have to take a look in Bucky's head first. Unfortunately the Signal in Buckys arm stopped working after you shocked him during our fight. So we have to wait for him to attack us. Hydra made me his target again, i guess.", he added and sighed. Evie knew what he was thinking about. 

Next time Bucky wouldn't be alone. He would have many Hydra Agents as backup and that would make it much harder getting to him. Evie also knew that Professor X wouldn't let his students fight against Hydra, making her numbers even fewer with Ava hurt and T'Challa protecting her. And no one could get T'Challa to leave Ava's side even for a second, that much she knew. 

Evanna was worried about this whole attack but she already thought about what would happen after they'd captured The Winter Soldier and healed him. Would she be able to talk normally with him again? As comrades? Or would these feelings always stand between them? 

Evie nervously stole a glance at Steve and he noticed that, smiling encouringly at her and she straightened her shoulder, determined to tell Steve about what happened that night before had been captured and brainwashed. 

"I guess i should tell you what we were doing out there in the street. Just the two of us.", Evanna started and averted her gaze, down to the blanket. Steve didn't move, just listened.

"I left Bucky there because i confessed my feelings and he rejected me.", now she looked at him again and his gaze became compassionate after hearing that. 

"Evanna, you're not blind. Bucky made clear advances towards you. I bet there's a good reason why he rejected you. Don't give up on him yet, please.", the grip of his hand on her wrist got stronger, emphasizing his word further and she was surprised that Steve was this convinced that there had to be reason for Bucky's rejection. 

"I guess. I'll try again if we get through this.", Steve grinned at her after hearing her answer to his request. 

Before they could talk further about Bucky's love life, someone came rushing through the door to her room. It was Alec. 

"Steve! He's here. They have some of the students as hostages! They want us to surrender the Avengers to them!", Evie's brother breathlessly urged them to do something and Steve stood up, almost too calm. 

"Get ready, Evanna. I need you out there. I don't want to involve the X-Men further in our matters. I'll hold them off. Alec, you warn Ava and T'Challa. Also Wanda, Sam, Clint and Scott. They'll come to help us.", Steve left the after giving his commands and Alec nodded and also left, leaving Evie alone to get dressed in her fighting gear, she found cleaned in her wardrobe. 

The heart in her chest pounded wildly, excited and worried at the same time about what was going to happen. She would have to fight Bucky again, but this time she wouldn't let him get the upper hand. Evie was prepared to fight the Winter Soldier and wouldn't hold back against him. 

Equipped she made her wade towards the front entrance and could already her Steve's shouts to let the hostages go. She stepped out behind her, ignoring the pain in her temple, and almost immediately mutiple guns were aimed at her head and chest. 

Bucky was the first man she could make out in the darkness. Behind him were multiple Hydra Agents, too many to count. Evie gulped and hoped the others would get Steve and her out of there if Hydra decided to shoot them in the head. 

"Steven Grant Rogers! We demand you to disable Evanna Ross next to you, right this instand!", one Agent shouted at them and Steve turned towards her, and apologetic look on his face. She knew that he had to do what they'd demanded if they wanted to rescue the students. 

Evie didn't think twice before she dodged his first punch and shocked him, which gained her the moment to escape. 

But that didn't last long because after seeing her attempt to flee, the Hydra Agents had opened their fire at her. 

Evie didn't close her eyes, waiting for her death and also ignored Steve's desperate cry. She just stormed further towards her destination: The Winter Soldier. 

She never felt any pain besides her temple piercing through her body and just saw the bullets stopping midair right in front of her. 

Behind Steve stood Evie's little brother Alec, with Wanda and Clint, using his powers to protect his sister from a certain death. 

The Hydra Agents were confused why Evie was still running towards the Winter Soldier, but already to late. Even Bucky couldn't react in time and had to engage in hand to hand combat with her. 

He still looked like the last time she'd seen him. The mask on his face covered his mouth and nose, while his eyes bore into hers. It was as if he was afraid of her, about what she going to do to him. Maybe the old Bucky was still inside there somewhere. 

She threw some punches at him, guiding the electricity in her arms, so that a possible hit would shock him. But as expected the Winter Soldier didn't try to touch her a all. He just avoided every one of her punches. 

Meanwhile the remaining of the Avengers had also engaged in combat and she saw Sam flying above their heads and Clint firing arrows at Hydra Agents, while Wanda and Alec protected them from their pullets. It was as if they were fighting Ultron all over again.

An incoming strike of Bucky's woke her from her thoughts and Evie jumped to the side to avoid the metal fist, that could possibly destroy her scull with little effort. 

He used that time she needed to find her balance again to pull out a knife. With that he pushed her back, to the edge of battlefield, or more like the courtyard of the X-Men mansion. They were almost all alone now. She wouldn't be able to get backup from her friends if Bucky should overpower her. 

Evanna gritted her teeth parrying an attack with his knife and managed to kick him into his side. With this he was startled briefly, allowing Evie to punch him into his pretty face, striking the mask of his face. She'd put all her frustations she had felt after the rejection into her punch and knocked his head to the side from the impact on his face.  
But that obviously didn't face the Super Soldier and his eyes found hers once again, now more confused than ever. 

"Я знаю тебя.", he said, studying her face as if he saw the sun for the first time and Evie halted in her movements, watching him, as if she was expecting a trap from the Winter Soldier, but he just looked at her, like he was... Bucky again.

A big mistake because he still had the knife in his hand and he used it to wound her right leg, but made no further attempts at attacking her. Evie cried out after she felt pain rippling through body, so strong she sank to the ground, grapping her wounded thigh and ripped the knife out, throwing it out of Bucky's reach. 

She glared at him, wanted to shock him into a coma for always making it this hard for her, but she gulped after the Winter Soldier bent down, picking her up in his arms.  
Evanna was too confused and surprised to shock him, so he would let her go, what would have been the right thing to do, but she didn't. 

The Winter Soldier ignored the fight going on behind them and looked straight ahead, merging with the darkness with Evanna still in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Я знаю тебя = I know you
> 
> Sorry if i got this wrong, used an online translator for this :/


	14. The Things We Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava and Steve plan to get Evie and Bucky back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey :) 
> 
> I (Frostbae) had a inspirational phase and decided to upload the next chapter :D   
> It's mostly out of Ava and T'Challa's perspective, sooo I hope you like it :)   
> And btw, feel free to leave kudos and a review 
> 
> Love
> 
> \- Frostbae & Coach

"She's gone? What the fuck. You're kidding me right now, aren't you?" Ava jumped out of her bed and grunted loudly when the pain in her shoulder reminded her of the last time she met the Winter Soldier. It was a clean shot, he hit her straight over her left lung and she wanted to believe that he didn't kill her on purpose – that there was still some good in him left, even as the guy that killed so many innocent people.   
"Listen, I'm sorry Ava. Evie was sprinting towards him and he just took her. We were still fighting and there was no way we could have helped her." 

Steve was sitting on Ava's bed, avoiding any eye contact. "We will find her – and Bucky." His voice became softer and he almost stuttered. Ava now understood why Evie always believed that Steve looked like a puppy. "I know that we'll find her but in what condition? What if they turn her in something like Bucky? I won't let that happen, Steve." He slowly nodded. "And now that Evie shocked Bucky's arm, we can't locate him. So all in all, we're fucked." Ava was slowly walking in circles, thinking how they could rescue both Evie and Bucky without serious injuries or loss. "There has to be a way..." Their conversation was interrupted by a worried T'Challa holding a cup of tea and a plate with a sandwich on it. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb you." His gaze wandered directly towards Ava's shoulder. "I'm fine, okay? And no, you weren't interrupting. We were just thinking about a way to get our friends back."

T'Challa placed both plate and mug on the nightstand and took a seat beneath Steve. "Alright, what do you have in mind?" he asked.   
"I don't know yet. We can find neither Bucky nor Hydra but I think Evie told us that Steve was his target." Ava stopped in the middle of the room, her eyes widened and she looked at Steve. T'Challa shook his head immediately.   
"No, Ava I know what you're thinking but NO! We won't use Steve as a decoy."   
"But honey..."   
"NO."   
Steve stood up and walked to Ava. "I think she's right. It's the only way for us to find Bucky. And he will lead us to Evie and Hydra."   
T'Challa's head was in a constant state of shaking from one side to another. 

"You two are out of your mind. There's no reasoning with both of you. I don't care what you want to do, Steve, but Ava, you are not going to leave this house. You were critically wounded, he almost hit your lungs and you could have suffocated. I won't let this happen again." 

Ava's head became red out of anger and she clenched her fists. "I completely understand that you are worried about me and that you want to protect me but I don't need no savior. I'm a grown woman and he only shot me because I was worried about YOU. He threw you through the fucking window and you were knocked out. So don't make this about us. She's my friend and I am going to save her and I don't care what you want or not." 

Not knowing what to answer, T'Challa simply made his way to the door. "OH. So this isn't about us and if you don't care what I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't be together anymore. I think that's best for us both so you don't have to feel like a child and I don't have to be your fucking baby sitter." His voice was calm but Ava knew that he only sounded like that when he was disappointed. T'Challa stepped out of the room and she screamed. "Yeah, maybe that's best for us." 

Steve was still standing besides Ava. He saw a small tear rolling down her cheek before she ran out of the room and down the stairs. 

She headed towards the garden and the training ground and brushed the tears away from her face with a swift motion. The anger she felt was beyond words and she didn't know if she was disappointed because of herself or T'Challa's reaction. Out of the sudden she formed a huge ball of flames in her hands, threw it into the sky and collapsed to the ground. Her head almost hit the cold hard stone but she quickly placed her arm under it. 

Ava couldn't remember the last time she cried. She decided a long time ago that crying made her weak and vulnerable but she did it nevertheless.   
Her best friend kidnapped by a man that was turned into a maniac and her boyfriend breaking up with her on the same day was a bit too much for her after all.

The cold breeze of dusk found it's way through her shirt and she stood up before she started shivering and brushed the water off her face with her sleeve, put her hands inside her pockets and sat down on a bench that was headed towards the huge garden of the villa. The slight breeze made her calm down and she stopped crying before she yelled into the night "Why the fuck would you run into his arms? I know that you can be an idiot sometimes but fighting him on your own? Come on, Sparklypants, you've made better jokes." All of the sudden, she laughed and went quiet for a while before whispering. "The things we do for love." 

Ava created a small flame inside her hands and brought it to her face. The heat dried the last drops on her skin and her gaze followed the abstract figures that the flame formed inside her small hands before she pressed her palms together to rob the air it needed to exist. She now stood up and decided to practice her fighting skills in the middle of the night. "Better practicing than laying in my bed staring at the ceiling." she told herself and concentrated to remember the moves Black Widow and Black Panther tried to teach her. She wouldn't be a threat to Hydra if she was stuck with throwing fire balls at them from a distance. There would be situations where she had to take out several of them on her own, without help from Steve and she couldn't afford getting shot again. The chance that a trained Hydra agent would miss to give his target   
the death blow was rather small. 

Sweat was dripping from her forehead and one salty dropped hit her right in the eye which didn't stop her from fighting an imaginary enemy. The moonlight enabled her to train until she almost fell to the ground exausted and heavily breathing. Flames were coming out of her hands and licked her arms, making a hissing noise because of her salty sweat. 

T'Challa was standing in front of his bedroom window and watched her train almost to complete exhaustion. He didn't regret worrying about her but neither did he regret breaking up. He still loved her but he knew that Ava would be strongest without him for a while and he admitted that he was partly guilty for letting his guard down what resulted in him getting knocked out and Ava getting shot.   
He crossed his arms in front of his body when he caught himself smiling while watching Ava practicing the moves he taught her a while ago. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. "Ugh it's me, Steve. Can I talk to you?"   
T'Challa took a deep breath and answered "It's open." before Steve slowly opened the door and placed himself next to T'Challa. They stood beside each other silently, watching Ava, for good ten minutes before 

Steve interrupted their silence. "Are you okay?"   
T'Challa looked to the ground and shook his head. "No. I know she's right. You, playing the decoy is the only way to track down the Winter Soldier and find Evie but I don't want her to get hurt and I know that she can make her own decisions but I don't want to loose someone again." 

Steve hesitated shortly but placed his hand on T'Challa's shoulder. "I'm sorry about your dad." he took a deep breath and continued "But I'm gonna execute Ava's plan tomorrow. And I think that Nova can fight. She's pretty strong and she desperately wants to find Evie. I'm gonna protect her and I promise you, I won't let Hydra take her away like they did with Sparks. Rest now, please."   
T'Challa quickly looked at Steve and smiled slighly before his serious gaze returned. "Try to sleep, tomorrow will be a hard day for all of us." were Steve's last words before he left the room and returned to his one. 

T'Challa looked out of the window one last time and saw Ava now resting with flames all over her body. "The things we do for love." He said and went to bed.


	15. Knight In Shining Armour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie and Bucky are held captive by Hydra. Are Steve and Ava able to rescue them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos if you like it thanks :)
> 
> Love  
> -Coach & Frostbae

"Soldier, Report!", one of the Agents commanded and Evie quickly closed her eyes hoping this torture session would soon end.   
Said Soldier was Bucky and he said something in russian before Evie heard some mechanical noises. She couldn't cover her ears because she was handcuffed to a chair and couldn't move an inch. 

Even though it wasn't the first time she still flinched when she heard Bucky's cry of pain and averted her face hoping it would stop. 

Bucky was constrained on a chair with a mechanical device which was obviously causing him to cry out loud. 

Evie's heart throbbed painfully in her chest, knowing that she was unable to do anything to help him at all. They were asking him the same question over and over again and he always answered the same. Evie never understood what he said, but it was obviously displeasing the agents. 

"Agent, stop your Session. The Boss wants to see what the Soldier does, if he and that woman are in the same room. Maybe then we can erase this disfunction of the code in his head.", Evie could hear a man say this, after Bucky's shout faded into heavy breathing.

"Yes, Sir.", after that there were steps coming towards her and two men freed her of her restrains, before they dragged her out of the chair into another room, which was empty except for a tiny bed. 

The wound the Winter Soldier had given her was barely taken care of and it still hurt when she tried to put weight on her leg. 

Evie didn't know how long it had been after Bucky had brought her here. After he had gotten violent because the Hydra Agents were closing in on him and Evie, he was quickly restrained, but his frantic eyes had never left her. It was as if he was desperately trying to protect her, like Bucky would have done for his friends. 

Sparks knew that she could easily overpower the two men with her, but she guessed that this place was full with people waiting for her to make an attempt to escape so they could end her for good. She had to trust in her friends, and she chuckled inside her head while thinking about Ava. 

Even though she was two years younger than Evie she felt like a big sister. Always trying to protect her and Alec. Evanna knew that Ava was most of her life alone causing her to always act like an adult. While Evie and Alec had the X-Men as their family. Wolverine had always been the one to help her master her powers, Ava had no one to rely on like that.

And there's also Steve, always being the knight in the shining armour. That would make Bucky the damsell in distress, Evie thought, feeling as the corner of her mouth twitched. 

She sighed relieved after the Agents left her alone in the room. Evie guessed that behind one of the walls was an office for Hydra to spy on Bucky and her. Maybe this was the Winter Soldier cell. 

The heavy door opened again and the Winter Soldier stepped into the room, before it closed with a click, leaving them alone to stare at each other.   
None of them dared to move. So Evie decided to start this little act for Hydra to enjoy. 

"This your room, Soldier? I expected some pictures of your best friend, not these depressing white walls.", she said, turning a little bit, so she could muster the room once again. 

When he didn't react to her words, but still watched her, Evie interlaced her fingers and started fumbling nervously. That caught the attention of the killer machine which was locked with her in this tiny room. 

Bucky took a single step towards her and his eyes searched hers, after she'd stumbled a little bit backwards. Did he try to tell her not to be afraid?

His gaze never left hers, while he took the last steps towards her. Evie couldn't even retreat because the wall was already hitting her back. The Winter Soldier had her cornered. The fumbling increased and she gulped nervously. Was he going to kill her?

The pain in her thigh didn't help in stopping the tremble in her legs, after he stopped in front of her. 

Evanna looked into the blue eyes causing her to hold her breath. She couldn't let go of these feelings she habored for this man. She always reacted when he was close and she could watch him all day. The permanent need to protect and hold him was a part of her being and she never wanted to leave him alone again, like she did a couple of days ago.   
His eyes travelled down to her trembling hands and he touched her wrist with his cold metal hand. She flinched at the sensation and also looked down while he gently seperated her hands, so he could retrace the outlines of her hands with his. 

The cold sweat of fear on her back turned into heat which warmed her wounded heart, and she could feel the tears well up in her eyes. Bucky seemed to remember the little gesture over which they had bonded in such a short time. 

"Я знаю тебя.", he said and again she recognized the words. The same he had said during their fight. 

His right hand encircled her wrist and gave it a yank, so her face collided with his fully armoured chest. Her heart pounded and she didn't move while the blood pumped through her veins. 

He bent his head down a little so his lips almost touched her ear. She shuddered while his hot breath tickled her skin. 

"Я защищу Вас.", after this words, Evie heard commands being yelled at the other side of the wall and Bucky turned around, shielding her from possible attacks.   
"Stop it at once, Bucky! You're confusing me!", Evie muttered, but touched his strong back with her hand and he looked at her over his shoulder. The same look he had during their fight was now on his face again. 

Was the one protecting her right now the Winter Soldier or James Buchanan Barnes? She was afraid of what could happen if he would forget her right now this instant. He remembered their little gesture and obviously her touch and face. But did he really know who she was? That she was the woman who desperately confessed her feelings towards him and got rejected? 

"The Avengers! They must have followed the Winter Soldier here, after Rogers escaped!", someone yelled and Evie looked to the door, hearing fighting noises right on the other side. 

Hydra had sent Bucky out there once again, to finally kill Captain America, but it had obviously been a trap because Steve had managed to escape, that much she had heard from the agents. 

Steve must have planted a GPS-chip on Bucky so they could follow him to where they'd held Evie. 

Altough while the Soldier had been out there trying to kill his best friend again, Hydra Agents had tried to play their psycho games with her. Saying that Bucky wouldn't be the only one of her friends who would get hurt. They had told her secrets about the Avengers that terrified her. They could tell her where Bruce Banner was, what her brother could do with his power and names and adresses of Ava's parents. 

She was scared and imagined all the horrible things Hydra could do with this kind of information they possessed. 

Evie's horrible thoughts were interrupted after someone kicked the door open and Ava appeared in the room, behind her was Captain America. 

"Evie!", Ava exclaimed, relief took over her features, but Evie still looked at Bucky who watched their rescuers as if they were their enemies. 

"Ava, careful. He's still the Winter Soldier.", Steve behind her, stepped in front of her and lifted his hands for Bucky to see them. 

"It's okay now, Bucky. We won't do anything to you or Evie.", he said in his calm motherly voice he always used while comforting his Avenger girls.   
Evanna touched Bucky's shoulder but the tension didn't become less. He was ready to fight Steve. 

"For fucks sake! Just knock him out and get out of here!", Ava growled and gave Steve a little push. 

"Evanna, disable him with your powers.", Steve said and Evie nodded causing Bucky to look at her.

"I'm sorry, James.", Evie said, grabbing his massive bisceps and shocked him as much as she could, before Bucky's legs gave in and Steve rushed forward to catch his best friend in midair. 

Evie looked at the Winter Soldier and was surprised after she felt two arms wrap themselves around her shoulders. 

"Thank god you're ok!", Ava hugged her with a death grip and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. Evie smiled and patted her back to reassure Ava that she was okay. 

"Don't you EVER dare to scare the shit out of me like that again, Sparklypants. You hear me?", Ava grabbed her shoulders and looked at her almost angry and Evie nodded at her friend. 

She was still wounded, Evie thought after a short glance at her shoulder. And she still came to her rescue as if she didn't care what happened to her. 

"Wanda, Sam and Clint are holding them off. Let's get out of here!", Steve said after he threw Bucky over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing at all. 

Ava supported Evanna while they walked out of the room, into the hall where Bucky had been tortured before. The ground was plastered with bodies and Wanda threw an Agent out of their way with her powers, so they could quickly escape. 

"It's good to see you in one piece, Evie.", Wanda said and grinned at her and Evie laughed while Ava was still looking worried. 

Clint had managed to obtain a car big enough for all of them, except Sam who flew above their heads towards where Evie guessed the X-Men mansion was. Clint didn't drive as fast as Evie was used to from him, so she guessed Hydra wasn't following them. 

They soon reached their hideout for the time being without any waking signs from Bucky. 

Steve commanded Ava and Wanda to take care of Evie, but she insisted to stay with Bucky while the Professor would look inside his head. 

This was the reason why Bucky was now lying in Steve's bed and Professor X was sitting beside the bed in his wheelchair. 

Steve and Evie were the only other people present for the Professors healing session. 

"I'll start now and please remain calm if Mr. Barnes should start moving or anything. I'm just going to look at the conditioning in his head.", Charles Xavier looked at them and the Captain and Sparks nodded at him, still covered in dirt from their previous fights. 

The Professor closed his eyes and silence filled the room. Neither Steve nor her dared to make a move and Evie couldn't handle the pressure, so she took Captain Rogers hand in hers. 

He looked at her with a calming smile and squeezed her hand in his, gaining strength from this little touch. 

Evie hoped that Bucky would be back to normal. That the Professor would heal him. That Steve and Bucky would share a big hug and that he would finally look at her again like he knew her. And then she would tell him her feelings once again. And she was confident that this time he would accept them.   
She prayed and Steve was the person who gave her strength to still stand up straight. 

Evie gulped after she saw that Professor X had opened his eyes again. He looked at them but Evanna could interpret his expression and all three of them shifted their gazes to Bucky again. 

They waited. Waited for Bucky to open his eyes. But nothing happened. 

Was he dead? Did the Professor remove the Code, the cause of his death? 

Seconds turned to minutes and Professor X already averted his eyes as if he gave up on him. 

On the other hand Evie and Steve refused to give up on James Buchanan Barnes. Never would they do that again. He was strong. He would fight it and he would survive it.   
Evie's eyes watched his face and she felt this familiar feeling she always had when looking at Sergeant Barnes. She alway-

A cough caught her off guard and her heart pounded wildly while witnessing the little movements of his mouth.

And everyone held their breath after James Buchanan Barnes had opened his eyes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Я знаю тебя = I know you
> 
> Я защищу Вас = I will protect you
> 
> Still used an online translator. Sorry for mistakes :D


	16. Best friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie and Ava are having a drink and are talking about their guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey :) 
> 
> Have fun with the next chapter, it's not as thrilling as the last one but nevertheless we hope you like it. 
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos and comments and don't hesitate to typos we probably made XD 
> 
> Love   
> \- Frostbae & Coach

"What's between you and Bucky?" Ava laughed and looked over her shoulder towards Evie who held a bag of clothes in her hand.   
"That'll be 24,95 $." the guy behind the counter smiled at the young woman in front of him and packed a shirt in a paper bag. Ava reached in her pocket and pulled out her purse giving him the money. She grinned and wished him a nice day before making her way to her friend. 

Meanwhile Evie scratched her head hoping that Ava had already forgotten her question. She felt her face blush a bit and tried to avoid her friend's gaze.   
"Hey. Sparklypants, I asked you something." Ava pushed Evie slighly to the side and winked at her. 

"I don't know. I like him but we still don't know whether he can go back to being the Winter Soldier or not. And I would rather avoid being in a relationship with a frantic killer." Evie took a deep breath and watched Ava's reaction. 

Her friend smiled but her eyes looked sad. Almost an hour of silence occured before Ava decided to speak up. "Professor X will help Bucky and Hydra will leave him alone after that - I hope. I mean, he's no use for them after he can't become the Winter Soldier anymore." 

Evie nodded slowly and grabbed Ava's arm all of the sudden. "Hey, there's a small café right on the other side of the street. We can grab something to eat there and talk!" Before Ava could say anything, Evie pulled her over the street and a car almost crashed into them. "Goddamn Evie, what the fuck??" Ava grunted and took a seat facing Evie. 

"Enough of me and Bucky. What about you and your boyfriend?" Evie grinned, thinking that Ava and T'Challa were still together. Her smiley look on her face turned to a surprised one when Ava looked to the ground and cleared her throat. "He broke up with me." was the only sentence that made it out of her mouth. 

Suddendly the sky darkened like Ava's mood. The slightly warm autumn breeze turned into a cold wind and a Evie shivered a bit. "What.. What happened?" 

Ava knew that Evie would blame herself for T'Challa and her breaking up so she decided to not tell her everything that happened. "Dunno. We had a different opinion on something and he wanted to keep me inside the house but I refused to feel like a child that had to use the help of it's mother." 

Ava hoped that the answer was enough for her friend to be pleased with and luckily Evie nodded and took a sip from her coffee. She put the mug back on the table and looked at Ava once more. She tilted her head slightly sideways and took Ava's hand that was laying flat on the table. 

"He's going to bite his own ass when he realises what he let go. You can be really annoying and you're stubborn like a ram and he doesn't like dogs but they're your favorite animal so I kinda understand why you two broke up but besides that your pancakes are the best I've ever eaten." Evie's try to lighten up Ava's mood worked and she finally laughed, the usual sparkle in her golden brown eyes returned. "Gosh you're an asshole Evie." 

Evie grinned and pulled her hand back to grab her drink. "I think it's better for the both of us to go seperate ways, at least for a little while. He knows that I need my space and I felt like a deer that was squeezed by a boa with no air left to breath. And by the way, I don't want to expect him to feel responsible for me. He needs someone that has both feet on the ground." 

Evie nodded understandingly. "But what about your needs?" 

Ava looked confused. "What do you mean? Oh. Oh gosh. Evie. I always thought you were the innocent one of us two." She started laughing and shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know." 

"You could call Wade and ask him on a date." before Evie could say more Ava punished her with an angry look and kicked her shin. "Are you out of your mind? Did you shock yourself last time you knocked Bucky out? Wade and I are friends and nothing more, doesn't matter that we were in a relationship before. I don't want to risk our friendship." 

Ava immediately felt sorry for her angry comment and tried so apologize. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. I don't think I'm ready for a complete relationship with love and stuff. I mean sex is great but the rest... Ugh" 

Evie's bright grin returned she placed her head between her hands that rested on the table. "You need a fuckbuddy." 

Ava almost spilled her coffee and coughed. "WHAT? I can't believe that we're actually having this conversation right now." 

"There's a guy behind you who's staring at you ever since we came here. He's cute. You should go and talk to him."   
"What the fuck Evie. I'm not gonna turn around and look at him." Ava shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest like a stubborn child. 

"If you're not looking, I will describe him to you. Okay, he's approximately 6' 0'' and he has a beard. We both know that you love beards. Don't deny it Ava."   
Ava took a deep breath and hit her hand against her forehead. "I fucking hate you."   
"I love you too, honey. As far as I can tell, he has brown eyes and freckles. And oh, there he comes." 

"WHAT?" Ava turned around quickly just to see the guy walking straight towards her, having a bright smile on his face. She turned to Evie again and gave her an angry look. She whispered "I swear to god Sparklypants, I'm gonna kill you when we're home." 

Evie got up and punched Ava slightly on the shoulder "I'll be back in 5 minutes. Use your time wisely. Have fun." the young woman headed towards the bathroom, looked quickly over her shoulder and winked before she disappeared. 

Ava cursed herself for having a friend like Evie. "Hey, do you mind if sit down?" She quickly looked up in the stranger's face and smiled a crooked smile. "No, absolutely not."   
He took a chair from a free table and placed it beside her. "I don't want to sound like a creep but you caught my attention immediately when you walked in."   
She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "It's okay and thank you." 

Evie came back a few minutes later smiling when she saw the two talking and Ava laughing. She whispered to herself "We'll see if we're going home together tonight, Ava." before taking a seat at their table. "Hey. You two seem to have a great conversation going. I don't want to interrupt you." The stranger got up and pushed his chair back to the neighbouring table. "No it's fine. I didn't mean to interrupt." He smiled at Ava once again "Will we meet again?" 

Ava blushed a bit and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I hope so."   
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Ava!" She nodded and turned to Evie - who was still grinning like an idiot - when he was gone. They too, decided to pay and leave.

"What was that, Ava? I thought you didn't want to talk to him. What happened to your good resolutions?" Ava didn't want to answer at first but decided not to be a dick like her friend.   
"Ugh. At least I'm not an ass like you." - Ava hesitated before continuing - "And by the way, his name is Ryan, he's 29 and he gave me his number."  
   
Evie almost ran against a road sign, not expecting her friend to answer. "You have to call him." Ava shook her head. "I don't know. He was really nice but I am definitely not ready for a new relationship." She had already played with the thought of having a new boyfriend, maybe just to make T'Challa jealous but quickly rejected it. 

"I almost forgot. You can count on me, I will make sure that I know everything that's happening between you and Bucky, Sparkly!" She laughed.  
"I didn't expect anything less." Evie watched her friend taking her key out of her pocket and unlocking their car.

"Get in, I wanna kick Bucky's ass. How long does he want to wait, I mean he clearly likes you." Evie shook her head to show Ava that she had no clue. "He should make a move now, I already made mine. I don't want to wait forever. I'm not immortal and I wanna have children before I'm 50. No just kidding."   
Ava snorted. "We're spending too much time together, you're turning into a little me." 

"Fuck" Evie clenched her fist and punched her leg.   
"Language!" Ava laughed and backed up into the garage of the X-Men mansion. "Let's see what the guys are doing." 


	17. Lingering Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie has to face the hard truth of her relationship with Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> New chapter :)  
> Please leave some kudos or a review, that would be much appreciated :)
> 
> Love  
> Coach & Frostbae

"Evie, I know it's sudden, but I want you to participate in one of Bucky's sessions with the Professor."

Some weeks had passed after Hydra had kidnapped her. Steve and Bucky found a small flat for themselves and Evie took Ava's invitation to stay with her for a while, before she found something for herself. It was important to Steve to disturb the X-Men as little as possible. 

Professor X still insisted on seeing Bucky weekly to see how he was doing and getting along with his new lifestyle without running or killing. 

Between Bucky and Evie were more or less little steps towards on another, but Bucky was obviously blaming himself on everything that happened and they hadn't even talked about the night Bucky was turned into the Winter Soldier again. Evie didn't even know if he still remembered. 

Because of this, Evanna looked at Steve who just requested her presence in one of Bucky's sessions. 

 

"Why now?", she nipped at her coffee which Steve treated her to. They had met up to talk about something important. And that must have been this little request of Steve's.

"Don't be like that. I know you wait for something to happen, but i think you have to attend one of the sessions first.", he pleaded and watched her with his blue puppy eyes and she groaned. 

"Okay, i'll do it. So it's just me with Bucky and Professor X in a tiny white room?", she shuddered picturing how such therapy rooms must look like. 

"I don't think it's white, more a light brown if you ask me, but yes you are.", Steve chuckled and Evie rolled her eyes at his attempt to be funny. 

She gulped her coffee, Steve had already emptied his and waved for the waiter to let him know, that they wanted to pay. 

"So when is this session?", Evanna asked and looked at her Captain. 

"Actually, i'll be bringing you now."

"You knew i would come along?", she raised her brows in confusion.

"Not me. Bucky did."

Evie watched him, if he joked again, but nothing. 

"He wants me hearing about his deepest thoughts?", she asked while getting up and Steve paid the waiter who appeared just now. 

"Obviously. So let's not waste time. Shall we?", he gestured to his motorcycle and she nodded. 

After getting comfortable behind Captain America on his vehicle, she grabbed him around his waist, pressing herself against him. She could only feel the chuckle rocking through his body, because the start of the engine was louder than any other sound around them. 

"Hold on tight.", Steve warned before they took off and she soon recognized the streets that led to the X-Men mansion. 

Evie could feel the air on her skin and wondered what Bucky intended to do with his request of his. She had told herself the whole time, that he might still need more time to settle and organize his thoughts. But the weeks went by and nothing happened. Ava was getting restless, annoyed at Evie being sad because of him. 

After reaching the Mansion Steve walked her to a room which she guessed was the room of Buckys session. 

"Tell Ava where i am. If not she'll worry herself to death.", Evie laughed and waved at Steve who nodded at her request, before she entered the room. 

She saw Professor X sitting in his wheelchair across from Bucky who turned around after hearing her enter. 

A careful smile spread across his face and Evie didn't know how to react and just smiled back. 

"Hello, i guess.", she started after getting sick of standing there in silence. 

"Evanna, we waited for you. Please take a seat over there with James.", Charles said and gestured to a black leathercoach for two people. The Soldier and her did just that, before turning their attention back to the Professor. 

"Evanna you might be surprised why James wanted you here, but we talked a lot about his life right now and the people in it.", Charles started and Evie gaze shot to Bucky who still watched the professor. 

Evie then almost shrieked after feeling his metal hand over hers but she forced herself to stay calm. Was he trying to comfort her about what was about to come?  
Charles looked at Bucky and nodded, at which he gripped her hand tightly in his. 

"Evanna,", his voice was raspy and his eyes found hers, "the night before... it happened again, the things i said... i only tried to protect you. I thought if i rejected you infront of the Hydra Agents they wouldn't target you as a possible weakness of mine."

Her mouth formed a surprised 'O' and she waited for him to continue.

"But i failed and i even hurt you. The Winter Soldier saw you as a threat but even so, we wanted to protect you. Both of us.", he explained the Winter Soldiers acts and his gaze wandered to their joined hands. 

The Professor had already been forgotten. 

"What i wanted to tell you that night would have get you killed right on the spot.", he stopped talking and his blue eyes found hers once again. Evie caught herself admiring his beautiful like every time she watched him. It even became normal seeing him in ordinary clothes, not his combat gear. 

"And this is why you're here today, Evie.", the Professor intervened and the both of them looked at him again. 

"What does this mean?", she asked getting suspious at what this was about. 

"James told me how you two met, about how you bonded over the time and how he feels about you.", he paused and sighed shortly after that.   
"He told me about his constant urge to protect you. That wouldn't be a problem, altough the Winter Soldier feels the same. After all this years being him, James almost vanished and the Winter Soldier manifested. He isn't just a person James was forced to be, he's now a part of him. That means we can't make him disappear."

"And you're telling this me because...?", she was too confused to even think about anything. She had to hear him say it. Her gaze went back to Bucky with pleading eyes.  
"I'm telling you this for both of your safety. James isn't ready for a serious relationship. He is serious unstable now and we can't risk having the Winter Soldier back on the surface.", he finished and she gulped. 

"And when will he be ready? How long do i have to wait?", she clenched her jaw and felt her fingers getting interlaced with Bucky's.   
"That all depends on James. It might take one or two years.", Charles guessed and watched her empathetically. 

"So you're telling me to wait for two years? What about my feelings? And his? I'm in love with him and now i thought everything would be alright. A-and now... i just... ", Evie's shoulders trembled before lowering her head, fighting the tears that wanted to leave her eyes. She barely noticed Charles leaving the room, giving her and Bucky some time alone.

"Tell me now. I want to hear it.", Evanna whispered and lifted her head to meet his eyes. 

"I won't. It would just hurt you.", he used his left hand to cup her cheek and gaze into her eyes. She knew she wasn't fair to him because he must hurt the same way as she did.   
There was a minute of silence while they gazed into each others eyes, only guessing what the other was thinking about. 

And now Evie did something she didn't know she was capable off. 

She got on her knees on the leathercoach, facing Bucky with her whole body. 

And before he could do something or use his super soldier reflexes, she grabbed his neck with both her hands and pressed her lips onto his.   
Evie was actually never this forward but with the possibility to wait for this kiss another two years, caused her to be this aggressive towards the man she fell for.   
And just like she guessed he was frozen and she used that chance to open his mouth with her tongue to taste him. Evie sighed content after feeling Bucky's smell and taste all around her. 

While she kissed him passionately, she used her hands to guide his arms around her body, telling him it was okay to kiss her back. And he did. Very slowly, almost scared.   
Evie pressed her body flush against his, so she lay on top of him. 

Her hands roaming over his chest, she always dreamed of touching and seperated their mouths to explore his throat. She smirked after seeing that he followed her mouth with his to claim her lips once more. 

"Just this once, before i have to restrain myself for another two years.", she muttered, sucking on his skin to a least leave a mark for other people to see that he was already reserved. 

"I won't go easy on you when the time comes, Doll.", he said out of breath and she lifted her face over his, gazing into his blue eyes. 

"I always imagined doing this with you, but differently.", she confessed and pecked him again on his lips, which caused him to smile at her.   
"You mean, like going further?", he smirked and she punched his shoulder. 

"Careful, Barnes. My knee is right between your legs and ready to kick.", he didn't take her threat seriously and still smiled at her. 

"I might not be able to keep myself together if i'm near you. You're always in danger.", he said and she rolled her eyes, lowering her lips to his again and this time she kissed him slowly and deep, hoping the feeling would still linger with her long after the moment had passed. 

His lips were soft, not like you would expect of the Winter Soldier. And they were hot, like the rest of his muscular body, she felt right beneath her.   
She felt his hand travel down her back to her bottom, pressing her harder into his chest, before both of them froze in place after hearing a knock on the door.   
"Bucky, Evie? It's Steve. Are you alright in there?", Captain America's worried voice came through the door and the Winter Soldier and Sparks seperated their bodies. 

Damn cockblock, Steve!, Evie thought scoffing and stood up, looking down at Bucky who stood up shortly after her, gazing down on her. 

"Come in, punk.", Bucky said and Steve opened the door, stopping in his tracks, seeing Bucky cupping Evie's face with his metal hand and bending down, to kiss her again. She closed her eyes and sighed happily into the kiss, while Bucky traced her lips with his tongue, almost as if he wanted to make a show for Steve to see. 

After they seperated, Evie leaned into him, gasping for air. Bucky put his arm around her waist, watching Steve with a serious expression. 

"Woah, man. Alright i get it. I'll keep my hands to myself.", Steve surrendered and Evie laughed at her two boys being this childish. 

But the doubts still lingered in her heart. What if his feelings would change? And what if he never would get better? Would she still wait for him? Could they be happy someday?

Or would the Winter Soldier always stand between them?


End file.
